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AT BETHEL, 



AUGUST 36, 1874 



" For far and wide on either hand 
There stretched a valley broad and fair, 
With greenness flashing everywhere — 

A pleasant, smiling, homelike land." 




POETLAN^D: 

FRINTED BY B. THURSTON Sc CO. 

1874. 



COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 



NATHANIEL T. TRUE, M. D. Hon. ROBERT A. CHAPMAN. 

DAVID F. BROWN, Esq. RICHARD A. FRYE, Esq. 

MOSES T. CROSS, Esq. 



OEEICERS OF THE DAT, ETC. 



Maj. GIDEON A. HASTINGS, Chief Maeshal. 
Maj. ABERNETHY GROVER. Peesident. 
RICHARD A. FRYE, Esq., Secret aby. 
NATHANIEL T. TRUE, M. D., Historian. 
Prof. HENRY LELAND CHAPMAN, Poet. 
Rev. DAVID GARLAND, Chaplain. 
Hon. ENOCH FOSTER, Jr., Toast Master. 






BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 



ITS INCEPTION. 

The citizens of Bethel feeling that an event so important as the time 
of its settlement was worthy of due commemoration, a meeting of its 
citizens was held at the vestry of the Congregational Church, on Bethel 
Hill, Jul}^ 14, 1874. The meeting was organized by the election of Major 
Aberuethy Grover, as chairman, and Eichard A. rrye,Esq., as secretary. 
It was voted to have a Centennial Celebration on Wednesday August 
26, 1874. A committee of arrangements was chosen to make the neces- 
sary arrangements for such an occasion, consisting of Nathaniel T. True, 
M. D., Hou. Bobert A. Chapman, David F. Brown, Esq., Eichard A. 
Frye, Esq., and Moses T. Cross, Esq., with authority to make such ad- 
ditions to their numbers as they should deem proper. 

At a meeting of the committee, held at E. A. Frye's office, July 15, 
they perfected their organization by the election of N. T. True, chair- 
man, and E. A. Frye, secretary. They voted to add ten members to 
their number to aid them, as follows, John D. Hastings, and Elias S. 
Bartlett, for the east part of the town; Israel G. Kimball, and Augustus 
M. Carter, for the middle part of the town; Samuel B. Twitchell, and 
Moses A. Mason, for the north side of the river; Elbridge G. Wheeler, 
Gilman P. Bean, and David M. Grover, for the west part of the town; 
and Major Gideon A. Hastings, for Bethel Hill. David F. Brown, Moses 
T. Cross, and Eobert A. Chapman, were chosen a committee to select a 
place for holding the centennial meeting. 

At a meeting of the committee, held July 18, it was voted to extend 
an invitation to K. T. True, M. D., to deliver the historical address at 
the Centennial Celebration. It was decided that the dinner should be a 
basket picnic and that such table accommodations be procured for each 
school district as may be required. Messrs. Brown, Wheeler and Kimball 
were chosen a committee to appoint a person in each school district to 
see to the furnishing of the tables, and to have each district represented 
in the procession. They appointed in School Distrtct Ko. 2, Lorenzo 



4 BETHEL CENTENNIAL, 

Smith; 3, John M. Philbrook; 4, David Garland; 5, Scott Wight; 6, 
Wm. H. Goddard; 7, Alonzo Howe; 8, C. M. Kimball; 9, H. H. Bean; 
10, J. S. Swan, 2d; 11, T. C. Carter; 12, Wm. Farwell; 13, S. S. Stanley; 
14, Abial Chandler; 15, C. I. Kimball, and Newton Grover; 16, D. W. 
Towne; 17, Wm. L. Bean; 18, Milton Holt; 21, Jacob A. Chase; 22, G. 
L. Blake, and Ira Cushman; 23, Cyrus Worraell; 24, Abial Lyon; 25, 
Albert W. Grover; 26, David T. Foster; 2 7, John F. Hapgood; 28, 
Albert Whitman; 29, Gilbert Chapman; 30, O. H. Mason, and Hiram 
Twitchell. Messrs. T. C. Carter, R. A. Chapman, and H. H. Bean were 
chosen a committee on finance; Major Gideon A. Hastings, Marshal of 
the day; Major Abernethy Grover, President of "the day; and the fol- 
lowing gentlemen, "Vice-presidents: Hon. Elias M. Carter, Mighill 
Mason, Esq., Dea. Leonard Grover, Charles R. Lock, Esq , and Eliphaz 
C. Bean, Esq.; Prof. Henry L. Chapman, of Bowdoin College, a 
native of Bethel, was chosen Poet; Rev. David Garland, Chaplain; Hon. 
Enoch Foster, jr., Toast Master. 

THE CELEBRATION. 

On Tiieiday evening strangers began to pour into town, indicating 
what was to be the gathering on the following day. For two days pre- 
vious the weather was the loveliest of the season, and every body was 
busy preparing for the great event. 

Wednesday August 26, 1874, was ushered in by a delightful day. 
Bells were rung at sunrise, and almost before the villagers had finished 
their breakfast, carriages began to arrive loaded with men, women and 
children, and mysterious looking boxes and baskets, which were at once 
conveyed to the long array of tables. These were taken possession of 
by the ladies of the several school districts, to each of which separate 
tables were assigned, to be covered and dressed according to their own 
inclinations and tastes. Thus the ladies were busy the whole forenoon 
in this important work. 

The " Bethel House," and the "Chapman House," were each dec- 
orated with tri-colored festoons, with shields and national flags, while the 
guests sat merrily anticipating the day's festivities. 

Many of the private residences throughout the village were gaily 
trimmed with evergreens and other decorations. A large national flag 
floated across the street between the Bethel House and the residence of 
Major G. A. Hastings. 

The procession began to form at 10 A. M., under the direction of 
Major G. A. Hastings, Chief Marshal; the right of the line in front of 
the residence of R. A. Frye, Esq., on Broad street, extending across 
the common and down Church street. 



BETHEL CENTEIsriSnAL. O 

ORDER OF PROCESSION. 

AID. CHIEF MARSHAL. AID. 

Hunters and Trappers equipped for the chase, with packs, dog, and flint-lock 

muskets. 

Pioneers with axes bearing a banner of birch bark inscribed, 

"Sudbury Canada, 1774." 

Men in a cart riving and shaving shingles. 

Men breaking and swingling flax. 

A man stripping a birch broom. 

A man pounding corn with an Indian Stone Pestle. 

Four stalwart Twitchells in a carriage, representing the descendants of the first 

proprietor, bearing the legend, a line from an old ballad, 

"And if a Twitchell, strong." 

A carriage carrying the oldest inhabitants, bearing the inscription, 

"The XVni Century." 

Gentleman and lady in antique dresses riding on a spring board carriage. 

Ye Ancient Doctor on horse back with saddle bags. 

The mail carrier on horse back, bringing the first mail, and sounding his post-horn. 

Old lady on horse back, and by her side, on another horse, a boy, her descendant 

of the fourth generation. 

The first mowing machine used in town, followed by the most modern mowing 

machine and horse-rake. 

Military Band. 

Military escort under Capt. S. F. Gibson. 

Selectmen of Bethel. 

Selectmen of Hanover. 

President of the day, Hon. A. Grover. 

Vice-Presidents. 

Chaplain, Rev. David Garland. 

Orator and Poet. 

Members of the Learned Profession. 

Invited Guests. 

A young lady in a carriage wrapped in the American flag and bearing the national 

shield representing the Goddess of Liberty. 
A carriage gaily trinuned containing thirteen yoiing ladies dressed in tri-color, 

bearing shields and representing the thirteen original States of the Union. 

A young lady in a carriage bearing a banner representing the "State of Maine." 

A young lady in a carriage bearing a banner representing "Bethel." 

Sixteen young Misses in a carriage dressed in white, bearing the motto, 

"The Coming Woman." 

Norway Band. 

The school districts in the order of their numbers. 

Citizens of other towns. 

It was a matter of interest to many present that the marshal's aid, Lieut. Haskell, rode a 
noble looking horse which was captured by Major Adelbert B. Twitchell, in Virginia, and 
brought home at the close of the late war. 



6 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

The iirocession countermarched dowu Broad street to the common, 
where they halted for the jihotographer to take some views, and then 
marched through Church, High, Mechanic, Depot and Main streets to 
the grove in front of the residence of Dr. N". T. True. The streets were 
thronged with people, and everybody appeared pleased at the sight. 

On entering the grove through an arch inscribed " 1774, Bethel, 1874," 
there were arranged on the right, tables to accommodate four thousand 
people, and on the left, seats and conveniences for as many more. 

On the platform were seated Ex-Gov. Perham, Judge Walton, Hon. 
James S. Wiley of Dover, Eev. Javan K. Mason of Thomaston, Eev. 
Dr. Wra. Warren, of Gorham, Dea. George W. Chapman, ninty -three 
years old last Christmas, Edmund Bean, ninety years old, and his wife, 
eighty-three years old, and other aged citizens. 

Portraits of aged citizens were suspended under the trees, while the 
orator's table and platform were covered with relics of the past, viz : 

A sword belonging to an English oflScer, picked up on the field at the battle of 
Stillwater.— Levi Twitchell. 

An Indian stone pipe. — Dr. True. 

Indian tomahawk. 

Compass used by Capt. Eleazer Twitchell in surveying the town. 

Wedding shoes, one hundred years old. — Mrs. John Harris. The high heels are 
in the sole of the foot ; 

A heavy silver tankard, presented to Gen. Joseph Frye by his officers in an ex- 
pedition to Nova Scotia in 1757. — R. A. Frye, Esq. 

A complete set of china ware, half a century old. — Mrs. R A. Frye. 

A chair one hundred and fifteen years old. — Samuel T. Stowell. 

The first sofa in town.— Mrs. C. S. Twitchell. 

Autograph album containing the names of all the members of Congi-ess during 
the administration of Andrew Jackson. — Mrs. C. S. Twitchell. 

Indian iron hatchet. 

Indian stone pestle found in Bethel. — Dr. True. 

Scales usedfor measuring logs by Capt. Eleazer Twitchell. — A. S. Twitchell, Esq. 

Rooster sixty years old from the cupola of the first chiirch in town. — Chester L. 
Twitchell. 

A chair ingeniously made of moose horns and bird's eye maple, by the late Hon. 
Moses Mason.— Mrs. C. S. Twitchell. 

The old people appeared remarkably happy as the scenes of former 
years were brought vividly to mind by each others faces, by the relics, 
and by the graphic descriptions of the orator. 

On the first sofa owned in town sat comfortably the oldest native born 
citizen now living in town, Mr. Edmund Bean, with his wife; while the 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. / 

oldest man, Dea. George W. Chapman, sat in a cliair more tlian twenty- 
years older than himself. 

The seats being filled, the president of the day, Hon. Abernethy 
Grover, made the 

ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

Fellotv Citizens : 

To day we have met to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary 
of the settlement of this good old town of Bethel. We bid a cor- 
dial and hearty welcome to every son and daughter of Bethel, 
every one ever a resident among us, or who ever thought of com- 
ing, we bid you welcome. 

Some of the children of the eighteenth century are still left with 
us to-day ; it is nearly one hundred years since their fathers and 
mothers toiled through the woods, guided only by marked trees — 
came on snow shoes — with their all on hand-sleds, or on horse 
back (a luxury), to make homes in the wilderness. They and 
their children have named noble families, many representatives 
of whom have gone out from the old nest, settled in all parts of 
our country, and to-day the good influence of our good old 
town is felt in every portion of the Union. Our citizens have 
filled offices of trust and honor everywhere, and no Bethel boy 
has brought anything but an honored name to his good old native 
town. We are proud of our sons and daughters. We have now 
killed the fatted calf and bid them all a free and hearty welcome 
home. 

PRAYER BY REV. DAVID GARLAND. 
O Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst 
formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlast- 
ing thou art God. A thousand years in thy sight are but as 
yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night. We will 
lift up our eyes unto the hills from whence cometh our help. Our 
help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. Our 
lines have fallen to us in pleasant places, yea, we have a goodly 



8 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

heritage. "We bless thee, gracious God, for the cordial greetings 
and the social pleasures of this joyous day. Through thy loving 
kindness we have assembled on this Hill to commemorate the cen- 
tennial anniversary of the settlement of this town. We have 
met to review thy providential dealings to the successive genera- 
tions, as tliey have passed upon the stage of action, and to return to 
thee sincere thanks for the hallowed influences that have increased 
the virtues, the usefulness and the glory of the citizens. We bless 
thee, gracious God, for the influence of many early pioneers who 
brought their bibles with them into the wilderness to be taken bv 
them as their guide, in the passing events of life ; who brought 
with them tiie sacred Sabbath, and brought with them their Christ, 
living in their souls. We thank thee, that while they, were labor- 
ing hard to make for themselves a" home in these valleys and upon 
these hills, amid great privations they kept the Lord's day and rev- 
erenced the sanctuary by tlie strict and prompt observance of 
religious worship. We thank thee, gracious God, for the great 
good that has been effected by the regular support of the preach- 
ing of the gospel these many years. We bless thee for the hal- 
lowed influence of tlie Christian ministry. We especially thank 
thee for the good influence of him * who for thirty years preached 
Christ and him crucified to save lost men, and who boldly advo- 
cated the doctrine of his cross. We bless thee for the precious 
revival of thy work, which was richly enjoyed during his minis- 
trations of thy word, and which greatly elevated the spiritual 
prosperity of the town. We render thee thanks for the blessed 
influence of the whole Christian ministry, who have moved for- 
ward heart in heart and shoulder to shoulder, in the work of dis- 
seminating the gospel of thy Son. We bless thee, gracious God, 
for all tlie benign influences of our public free schools, which were 
inauo-urated for the useful education of the voung, and have been 
supported for all the children alike at public cost. We render thee 
thanks for the great benefit of the classic school, that was years 
since founded for the special purpose of training the youth in 

*Rev. Cbarles Frost. 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 9 

all the elementary principles of education, and for qualifying them 
to act a noble part in positions of high trust. We bless thee for 
the benign influence of all the good instructors who have felt a 
lively interest in the welfare of the children. We to-day especially 
thank thee for the influence of him * who has done far more than 
any other person for the education of the young, and is now 
highly esteemed by many who have been favored with his teaching 
in the school-room. We would be grateful for all the privileges 
and blessings that have been secured to us through the passing 
events of a century, educational, moral and religious. 

In the orderings of thy providence, gracious God, we to-day 
stand on the border line that separates two centuries, one of them 
is immediately behind us, and the other directly before us, one of 
which is now entirely passed, and its history is finished ; the 
other is yet to come, and its history is all to be made. As we 
ourselves are to commence the great and responsible work of 
making this history, we pray that we may be equal to the task, 
and be true to our duty. So grant us, gracious God, the teachings 
of thy spirit, that we may adhere closely to the teachings of the 
bible, hold firmly the sacred Sabbath, and adhere to the Christ of 
the world. And through the power of thy grace, O our God, 
may our influence for good be very great and abiding, and may it 
be so transmitted down through all succeeding generations, that 
those who shall fill the places we now occupy, at the next centen- 
nial anniversary will rejoice in that we were their ancestors, and 
will thank God for the rich inheritance we shall have secured to 
them. Gracious God, may the Holy Spirit now so descend upon 
us in copious eff'usion, while assembled, that we shall be constrained 
to say. Lord, it is good for us to be here. And thine shall be the 
glory forever. Amen. 

*Dr. N. T. True. 



10 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 



BY N. T. TEUE, M. D. 



Mr. President^ Native-born Citizens., Adopted Citizens., and Friends : 
One hundred years is the involuntary exclamation of every one 
who contemplates the scenes connected with a centennial celebra- 
tion. A crowd of thoughts rushes upon the mind as one reviews 
the history of our world from the birth of this town to the present 
occasion. Time with his busy fingers has placed on record the 
names of more than three thousand million human beings who 
have lived and died during that period. Kingdoms and empires 
have risen and fallen. A republic whose birth was almost coinci- 
dent with that of the town whose centennial we this day celebrate, 
has been founded on these western shores, containing 40,000,000 
souls. The science of chemistry had its birth one century ago 
this very month. The steamboat, the railroad, and the telegraph 
have been invented and found their way to the four quarters of 
the earth. Scientific men of renown, poets, orators, statesmen, 
warriors, and kings have been born, fulfilled their career, and died. 
Men are still living who were born before all these things transpired. 
It is only one of the forty centuries of recorded history, but one 
of the most important in the annals of time. This beautiful town 
has been changed from the dark and dense forest to the open fields, 
beautiful landscapes, and the thrifty homes of an industrious, intel- 
h'gent, and virtuous people. 

We welcome to our celebration to-day the sons and daughters 
who still live on the paternal spot ; we welcome those who have 
wandered away, but who cannot easily forget the homes of their 
earlier years, and have returned to celebrate the day with us. 

One hundred years ago little was known of the Androscoggin 
river above Ruraford Falls. The earliest map in which I can find 



BETHEL CENTEISnsnAL. 11 

it laid down is by Charlevoix in 1744. He simply gives the gen- 
eral direction of the river as coming from a nameless lake. 

In 1745 a party made a survey a few miles above Rumford Falls. 
I find no record of any exploration farther up the river till reach- 
ing Shelburne, N. H., which had received a charter from the 
crown as early as 1668, though it was not surveyed till 1771. 

THE INDIANS. 
The Indian name of what is now Bethel is lost. Tlie only Indian 
name remaining within the limits of the town is that of Songo, 
applied to a pond on the extreme south border of the town. It 
signifies " the source,'''' or " the discharging place " of one body 
of water into another, and is the principal source of the Presump- 
scot river. The latter meaning applies to Songo river, which dis- 
charges the waters of Long Pond in Bridgton into Sebago Lake. 

INDIAN VILLAGE. 

On the banks of the Androscoggin, about one mile above the 
bridge, and directly in front of the dwelling house of the late Tim- 
othy Chapman, Esq., there is an elevation of intervale consisting 
of three or four acres. It is a lovely spot. Here was an Indian 
village. How long it had been inhabited is not known. It is 
probable that they had not occupied the spot since about the year 
1750. They had cleared about ten acres of the intervale for a 
corn-field. Pine trees measuring eighteen inches in diameter had 
grown up in some places when occupied by the first settlers ; the 
rest was covered with bushes. Corn hills were everywhere visible 
among the trees. 

On clearing the land about twenty cellars were discovered, 
which had probably been used as a deposit for their corn. A dozen 
or more gun barrels were found, together with brass kettles, axes, 
knives, glass bottles, aiTows, and iron hoes, the latter of which 
were used by the settlers for several years afterwards, while the 
gun barrels were wrought into fire shovel handles by Fenno, the 
blacksmith. On one occasion he discharged the contents of a bar- 
rel into his work-bench, while heating it in his forge. 



12 BETHEL CENTENIsTAL. 

A single skeleton was discovered wrapped in birch bark. It is 
said that they generally carried their dead to Canton Point for 
burial. Probably the settlement contained one or two hundred 
persons. 

A mile and a half below the bridge, near the Warrows, is Powow 
Point. Here they had a clearing of three-fourths of an acre, which 
seems to have been a place of rendezvous for hunters and warriors. 
There is a tradition tliat a camp was burned there with all its 
inmates, and that their implements and bones were afterwards 
found. Later, the Indians made the point of land on Mill Brook 
their camping ground. 

So common were the Indians during the first settlement of the 
town that quite a fleet of canoes on the river was a common occur- 
rence. Among many anecdotes related of the Indians 1 will speak 
of only one which has recently come to my notice. A party of 
Indians encamped near Alder river, who offered to Avrestle with 
Jonathan Barker, one of the first settlers in Newry. They selected 
the weakest first, whom Barker easily laid on his back. The others 
came in turn with the same result, till he reached the strongest. 
Barker found him exceedingly strong in his arms, but he succeeded 
in tripping his legs and laying him solid on his back. The Indian 
rose and exclaimed, " you all mattahondou," which in plain Eng- 
lish meant, "you all devils 

It is a matter of political significance to remark that the Andros- 
coggin river was for a long time the boundary line between French 
and English influence. The later Indians who visited Bethel used 
to speak of the happy people that formerly dwelt there, away from 
the incursions of the whites. They never conveyed their lands 
to the whites above Lewiston Falls, and the last survivor claimed 
a right to the lands in Bethel as long as he lived. 

Among the many Indians who were well known to the early 
settlers was Sabattis from Fryeburg. Matalluc was the last sur- 
vivor on Umbagog Lake, who died at Stewartstown, N. H., about 
1840. 

Mollocket, a corruption of Mary Agatha, died in Andover in 
1816. She was supposed to be the last of the Pequakets. Ser- 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 



13 



geant Lewey and Capt. Phillip were in the revolutionary war. 
Capt. Swarson was also in the war. These were Pequakets. Tom- 
hegan never visited Bethel after the raid in 1781. 

The Indians of the St. Francis tribe often visited Bethel to have 
their guns and jewelry repaired by Eli Twitchell, Esq. An Indian 
once came with a box of jewelry for that purpose, but never ap- 
peared to claim it. 

SUDBURY CANADA. 
The following notice respecting the present town of Bethel, 
stands recorded as follows : 

" June 7, 1768. In General Court of Massachusetts. Reported, 
Read, and accepted, and Resolved, That there be granted to 
Josiah Richardson and others, mentioned in the Petition, whose 
ancestors were in the expedition against Canada in 1690, a Town- 
ship of six and three quarter miles square, to be laid out in the 
unappropriated lands of this Province to the eastward of Saco 
river. Provided, the grantees within seven years settle eighty-three 
families in said town, build a house for the Publick worship, and 
settle a learned Protestant minister, and lay out one eighty third 
part for the ministry, one eighty third part for the use of a school 
in said town, and one eighty third part for the use of Harvard 
College forever. Provided, also, that they return a plan thereof 
into the Secretary's office in twelve months for confirmation. Sent 
up for concurrence." 

It is worthy of note here that seventy-eight years had elapsed 
before the General Court of Massachusetts recognized the claims 
of the heirs of those who had been employed as soldiers in the 
expedition to Canada. 

This township received the name of Sudbury Canada from the 
circumstance that the original proprietors were principally from 
Sudbury, in Massachusetts, and the new township was located 
somewhere near Canada. 

A meeting of the proprietors was held the same year, and Joseph 
Twitchell, and Isaac Fuller, a surveyor, were chosen to survey the 
township and divide it into lots that year. It is probable that they 



14 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

selected the location of the town from the unappropriated lands 
east of the Saco river, by representations of hunters of the fine 
interval lands on the Androscoggin river. As their location con- 
sisted of six and three fourths miles square without regard to its 
external shape, they extended their survey along the best inter- 
vales of the river, a distance of seventeen miles, and around all the 
pine timber possible. The lots were long and narrow, consisting of 
forty acres each. On the uplands the lots were divided into squares 
of one hundred acres. Subsequently an addition was made to the 
territory of the town b}' a tier of lots bordering on the towns of 
Albany and Greenwood, as it was found that the original sur- 
veyors had not included sufficient land, in accordance with their 
grant, or else because there was much good ])ine timber there. 

After the return of the surveyors, Joseph Twitchell, a gentle- 
man of wealth, and ancestor of all that name in this town and 
vicinity, saw and appreciated the future value of these lands ; and 
as many of the proprietors refused to pay the assessments, he com- 
menced buying up their claims, until eventually he held no less 
than forty shares. It was to his energy and foresight that the 
town was settled, though he never resided there himself. Among 
his purchases was the lot covering a large portion of what is now 
the village at Bethei Hill, including all the mill privileges on Mill 
Brook. He purchased this of the proprietors, April 6, 1774, for 
the sum of fifteen pounds, silver money. This was about three 
times as much as Peter Minuits paid one hundred and twentj^-five 
years before for the whole of Manhattan Island, on which New 
York now stands. 

Dec. 5th, 1769, Josiah Richardson, Esq., and Cornelius Wood 
of Sudbury, and Josiah Stone of Framinglmm, were authorized 
by the proprietors to sell to Joseph Twitchell two whole rights for 
the sum of four pounds, in consequence of the non-payment of 
assessments. Similar meetings for the same purpose were held 
in 1773, 1774, 1777, and 1783. 

Among those who purchased a large number of the original 
rights were Aaron Richardson and Jonathan Clark of Newtown, 
who in Dec, 1774, paid one hundred and eighty pounds in lawful 
money. 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 15 

What were the relations of Sudbury Canada to the rest of the 
world one hundred years ago ? Covered with dense pine forests, 
the hunter did not know the existence of a mountain till he reached 
its base. The Androscoggin, like a silver thread, wound its way 
mid mountains and forests, whose banks were covered with tall 
pines to its water's edge. The pioneer who once reached the place 
must go by spotted trees forty miles to Fryeburg through an un- 
broken wilderness ; forty miles down the river to Livermore, and 
forty miles by spotted trees, or by the compass, to New Gloucester. 
Ascending the river to its source, it was an unbroken forest to the 
shores of the St. Lawrence. Consequently, for many years after 
the settlement of the town, when a person came to Sudbury 
Canada, he was said to go through the woods. 

The breaking out of the revolutionary war prevented the settle- 
ment of the town according to the conditions of the original grant, 
and it was not till 1783 that the General Court gave a full title to 
the settlers for their lands. Every settler was entitled to fifty acres 
of land in addition to his lot, and the duty of surveying these lots 
usually devolved on Capt. Eleazer Twitchell, after he moved into 
town in 1780. 

THE FIRST SETTLERS. 

Amid some very shadowy evidence of any attempt towards clear- 
ing lands for a settlement, I must assume that the first man who 
shouldered his axe for this purpose was Lieut. Nath'l Segar, who 
came to Sudbury Canada from Newtown, Mass., in the spring of 
1774, and spent several months in felling and clearing on the farm 
now occupied by his daughter and her husband, Capt. Wm. 
Barker, in what is now Hanover. 

Lieut. Segar left for Newtown in the fall, and enlisted in the 
revolutionary war, in which he was engaged two years and nine 
months, and returned to Bethel in 1779, in company with Jona- 
than Bartlett. They carried kettles with them for making sugar, 
and the next autumn returned to Massachusetts. The next spring 
Thaddeus Bartlett, and a boy by the name of Barton, came back 
and spent their time in making sugar which they sold to the 
Indians, and in clearing their farms. 



16 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

In the same year that Segar came to town (1774), Lieut. 
Jonathan Clark came to Sudbury Canada and purchased a lot 
where Lewis Sanborn now lives, but did not make much progress 
toward a settlement, and he returned to his home in Massachu- 
setts, and became a commissary in the army, but returned to 
Sudbury Canada in 1778-9, and exchanged his farm for the one 
now occupied by A. L. Burbank, Esq. It is said that he cut the 
first hay in town on the brook opposite the steam saw-mill, though 
this is also claimed for a meadow on Alder river, where a beaver 
dam existed by which six acres came into grass spontaneously. 

In 1774, Capt. Joseph Twitchell built a saw-mill on the fall near 
Eber Clough's starch factory. The remains of the dam may still 
be seen. This appears to have been the first building erected in 
town, save a few log camps. The same year he erected at the 
lower fall on Mill Brook a grist mill on the spot where the present 
mill now stands. On the opposite side of the street, on the little 
island now owned by David Brown, Esq., was erected the first 
frame house in town in 1779. It was built to accommodate the 
workmen in the mill. It had a long, shed roof reaching nearly to 
the ground, and had two rooms. It has a subsequent history which 
will be noticed hereafter. 

In the fall of 1776, Mr. Samuel Ingalls and wife came to the 
settlement from Andover, Mass., and spent the winter on the farm 
occupied by Mr. Asa Kimball. She rode part of the way on 
horseback, and the rest of the way traveled on foot. She was the 
first white woman ever within the limits of the town. In conse- 
quence of this fact the proprietors of the plantation gave her one 
hundred acres of land. He subsequently removed to Bridgton, 
and then returned to Bethel and died on the farm of the late 
Amos Young. 

Benj. Russell, Esq., came to Bethel from Fryeburg, with his 
family, in March, 1777. Himself and Gen. Amos Hastings, then 
living in Fryeburg, being mounted on snow-shoes, hauled on hand- 
sleds his wife and daughter, then fifteen years old, and who 
afterwards became the wife of Lieut. Segar. They traveled 
nearly fifty miles in two days. They camped the first night near 



BETHEL CfENTENNIAL, 17 

the mills at Nortli Waterford. Mrs. Russell was consequently the 
second white woman tliat came to town. Mr. Russell performed 
the business of the plantation, wrote an elegant hand, and cel^e- 
brated the marriages. He used to say that he was the first Justice 
of the Peace in what is now Oxford County. He died Nov., 
1802, and his wife, 1808. 

In 1778, Jesse Dustan moved into the town with his wife, who 
was the third Avhite woman. He settled on the farm now occupied 
by Bela Williams. Another important event worthy of historic 
record occurred in 1782, as the result of their advent. To Mrs. 
Dustan was born the first child in what was then Sudbury Canada, 
but now Hanover. His name was Peregrine. The proprietors 
were so elated at the prospect of an increase to its own population 
from within its own borders after a lapse of fourteen years from 
the date of their grant, that they in their generosity gave their 
firstborn one hundred acres of land, on the farm now occupied by 
Vincent Chapman. What a farm situated at the foot of Bear 
Mountain was valued at at that time, I have no means of knowing. 
Peregrine Dustan became a minister of the Methodist denomina- 
tion, and died quite ^-oung. 

During the same year, March 12, 1782, Joseph Twitchell was 
born, being the first white child born within the present limits of 
Bethel. He died Nov. 24, 1871, aged 90 years. He resided in 
town during his life, except four years in Brunswick. 

In 1779, James Swan came from Fryeburg, Me., and settled on 
the farm now occupied by Ayers Mason & Son. He built a 
house east of the road between Alder river bridge and Ayers 
Mason's house, on land now owned by Samuel D. Philbrook. He 
had three sons who were young men when he came ; Joseph 
Greely Swan, who lived with his father ; Elijah, who did not 
make a permanent settlement in the town ; James, who settled on 
Swan's Hill, and Nathaniel, who settled on Sunday river, in 
Bethel, and died there. Their father was known as the man with 
whom Sabattus, a well known Pequaket Indian, lived many years 
in Fryeburg. 

During this year (1779), Capt. Joseph Twitchell, the original 
2 



18 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

proprietor of the mills, persuaded his son, Capt. Eleazar Twitchell, 
then living in Dublin, N. H., to move with his family to Bethel, 
and take charge of his father's property. Accordingly, Capt. 
Twitchell, his wife, and wife's sister, Betsey Mason, five children, 
and six hired men, viz. : John Grover, Jeremiah Andrews, Gid- 
eon, Paul, and Silas Powers, and a Mr. Fisk, left Dublin and 
came as far as Fryeburg in the winter of 1780, and in the spring 
reached Sudbury Canada. 

Capt. Twitchell sent his men through the woods from Fryeburg 
to Sudbury Canada to beat a path in the snow on their snow-shoes, 
when they returned to Fryeburg, packed their baggage on hand- 
sleds, and started for Bethel, the women following in the rear. 
What earnest man will not be followed by an equally earnest 
woman, even to the wild woods of Sudbury Canada? He occu- 
pied the house which had been built on the island near the 
grist-mill. He at once repaired the grist-mill, caught moose on 
the neighboring hills for meat, while his children picked berries in 
the woods. Capt. T. was a great acquisition to the town. He 
sent his men to aid settlers coming into town ; ran out the town 
line, and surveyed the lots for the new settlers, and aided them in 
securing homes for themselves. He commenced clearing the farm 
now occupied by Moses A. Mason, cutting the pine timber of the 
best quality, which was put into the Androscoggin and floated to 
Brunswick, while the poorer quality was used for making log 
fences. Think of it, ye men whose eyes now-a-days glisten with 
delight at the sight of a pine log, when Capt. Twitchell hauled 
into the river and sold the handsomest white pine imaginable for 
fifty cents a thousand ! It was considered a good winter's work 
in those days Avhen a man could haul lumber enough into the 
river with which to buy a yoke of oxen. 

Thus in the spring of 1781 there had been but ten families 
settled in the town during the thirteen years since the plantation 
had been granted to the proprietors. This occurred during the 
stormy times of the American revolution. Five of these families 
settled in the upper part of the town, Capt. Eleazer Twitchell* 
Benj. Russell, Esq., Abraham Russell, Lieut. Jonathan Clark, 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 19 

and James Swan. In tlie lower part of the town were five 
families, Samuel Ingalls, Jesse Dustin, John York, Amos Powers, 
and Natlianiel Segar. The nearest of these two divisions was six 
miles apart, while some were ten or elven milps. 

In 1781, David Marshall and wife moved into the town and 
settled on the Sanborn farm, on which the old town-house stood. 
Peter Austin also settled on the farm now occupied by John 
Barker. He had a camp, but was not married. This was in 
1780. 

INDIAN RAID. 

On the 3d of August, 1781, occurred an event which is worthy 
of note as being the last of the incursions made by the Indians on 
the whites in New England. 

It had been noticed by the inhabitants tliat the Indians in their 
visits to the settlements for several months, had painted themselves 
more gaudily than usual, but they succeeded in quieting their fears 
till the foregoing date, when a party of five Indians, with Tom- 
hegan. a noted ugly-tempered Indian, came from Canada, by way 
of Bear river, entered the house of Capt. Benj. Barker, who had 
settled in what is now Newry, where Miss Mary Russell and Miss 
Betsey Mason were on a visit. Plundering the house and the 
young ladies, they proceeded up the Androscoggin to an opening 
near Lieut. Jonathan Clark's house, where Mr. Clark, Capt. 
Eleazer Twitchell, and Nathaniel Segar were at work. The 
savages, painted and armed with guns, hatchets, and scalping 
knives, immediately made them prisoners. An Indian brought out 
of the woods Mr. Benj. Clark. They took them into Lieut. Clark's 
house, bound them and plundered the house. Capt. Twitchell 
succeeded in running away and hiding behind a log, and thus 
escaped. 

It will not be possible to narrate the events of the captivity of 
sixteen months of Benj. Clark and Segar, their journey to Canada, 
their terrible treatment by the savages, their final release and 
return to their friends. Are they not all written in Segar's 
narrative ? The citizens were thrown into a state of the greatest 
consternation. Capt. Twitchell cautiously made his appearance 



>J 



20 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

the next morning, and giving the true state of affairs, while John 
Grover, a young man, father of the late Dr. John Grover, started 
on foot at sunset for Fryeburg for assistance. He arrived there 
the next morning and told his story. Couriers, on horseback 
started up and down the Saco river, and before night a company 
of men under command of Lieut. Stephen Farrington, started with 
Sabattus as a guide, and reached Bethel the following morning, to 
find Lieut. Clark returned from the Indians. Benj. Clark and 
Nathaniel Segar were carried off as prisoners. Stopping at the 
house of Capt. Twitchell a few moments for rest and refreshment, 
they started up the Androscoggin in pursuit of the Indians, found 
the body of James Pettingill in Gilead, whom they had killed and 
scalped, when finding further pursuit to be useless they returned 
to Fryeburg. The last survivor of this campaign Avas Isaac 
Abbott, who died in 1861, aged ninety-nine. 

The citizens were now suffering all the terrors of savage Avarfare. 
David Marshall, who had settled on the Sanborn farm, near the 
old town-house, at once fled to the woods with his wife and son, 
and after several days of terrible suffering, reached a camp at 
Paris HilL They never returned to Bethel, but settled in 
Hebron. 

The citizens at once sent to Fryeburg a petition for a company 
of soldiers to protect the town. A company was raised. Stephen 
Farrington was chosen commander, and they came to Bethel, Avlien 
a garrison was built on the end of Capt. Twitchell's house. This 
consisted of logs, with cabins for the men, while the officers occu- 
pied one room in Capt. Twitchell's house. It may give the audi- 
ence some idea of the condition of Sudbury Canada at this time, 
when it is stated that there was probably no cleared and level spot 
of land in the town where tlie soldiers could drill, and for this 
purpose they paraded on the plank bridge near Burnham's carriage 
shops. Many of the soldiers had been employed in Indian Avar- 
fare, and many Avere the stories told of personal adventure during 
the two months they were stationed here. Mrs. TAvitchell had 
places of concealment for each of her children in case of an alarm. 
The inhabitants spent their nights in the garrison, while the firing 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 21 

of a musket during the day was the signal of alarm for all to flee 
to the fort. 

Another garrison, two stories high, was erected in the lower 
part of the town, on the farm of the late Amos Young, in which 
a portion of the company was stationed. 

In 1782 the commonwealth of Massachusetts sent a company of 
men under Lieut. Stephen Farrington to garrison the plantation 
for three months, at an expense of £205 12s. lid. This company 
consisted of twenty-seven men. Peace having been declared, the 
men returned home, and the inhabitants set themselves to work to 
recover from their losses. The effect of this incursion had been 
most disastrous. The lands became much depressed in value, and 
settlers were prevented from coming into town till after the joyful 
news of peace. It is said that one of the original proprietors sold 
his half lot of land, on what is now Main street in Bethel, east of 
Oilman Chapman's house, for a mug of flip. 

It should be noted here that the prime cause of this Indian raid 
was a bounty paid by the British oflicers of eight dollars for every 
American prisoner brought in alive, or for his scal]5, if dead. 

PLANTATION BECORDS. 

As the records of the plantation are supposed to be irrecoverably 
lost, I am compelled to leave a blank of much that transpired dur- 
ing these years. 

The only records of tlie plantation now known to be in existence 
is the report of a committee to settle accounts with persons who 
had worked on the fort, and on the roads, and for scouting. John 
Grover was allowed XI 10s. for going to Fryeburg on an express. 
This was in 1782. Accounts were settled at this time for work 
on the roads. Probably the first road in town was from near Al- 
bert Burbank's farm to David Brown's house, and thence toward 
"Waterford over the highest, driest, and rockiest portions of the 
land. 

In 1784 Capt. Peter Twitchell moved to the town and com- 
menced clearing a farm on the land now occupied by Alphin 
Twitchell, on the north side of the river. Many persons remem- 
ber him as a man of strong physical and mental power. He died 



22 BETHEL CENTENNIAL, 

in 1854, aged 94 years. In 1785 occurred the first death in the 
settlement. James Mills, while engaged in felling trees on Grover 
Hill, was struck by a tree and instantly killed. 

I have no record of events during the years 1783 and 1784, till 
Oct. 25th, 1785, when there occurred the greatest freshet ever yet 
recorded in the Androscoggin river. The inhabitants had built 
their log houses on the intervales of this river, when they were 
swept away with all their contents. Capt. Twitchell's house on 
the island was surrounded with Avater, and he took off his family 
with a raft. This was a severe, but useful lesson, as they rebuilt 
their houses in position above the reach of freshets. One acquaint- 
ed with the location can form an opinion of its height when he is 
told that from Clough's mill to the Androscoggin river there was 
one continuous slieet of water. It rose two feet above the sills of 
Moses A. Mason's dwelling house beyond the bridge. 

We certainly must attribute to the early settlers two unusual 
and disastrous events, the Indian raid and the great freshet. 

I do not learn that there were many additions to the population 
of the town for three or four years after these events. But great 
crops always occiir after a great freshet, and the bountiful harvests 
induced others to come through the woods to the Scoggin country 
as it was then called. 

It may give us an idea of the relation of this town to that of 
Paris in this county in 1785 when Miss Dorcas Barbour, who 
afterward became the good wife of Stephen Bartlett, left her home 
in Gray, on horseback behind her father, and rode as far as they 
could go in this manner to Paris Hill. From this place she con- 
tinued her journey on foot or on snow-shoes, accompanied by Mr. 
Josiali Segar, who dragged along a sled containing all her goods. 
They reached a camp at night, where they found difficulty in pro- 
curing a fire for some time, but she always afterwards insisted that 
she spent the night very comfortably with Mr. Segar. They 
reached Mr. Keyes' house at Rumford Point the next day, and the 
following day met her sisters in what is now Hanover. 

Among the early settlers was Rev. Eliphaz Chapman, who re- 
moved from Methuen, Mass., to Bethel, in 1789, and settled on 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 23 

the site of the old Indian village and their corn-fields, now occu- 
pied by Timothy Hilliard Chapman. His family came to town the 
next year. This was the first opening on the north side of the 
river above Moses A. Mason's. 

The appearance of the town at this time as it existed in 1790 is 
clearly described by his son, Dea. George W. Chapman, who was 
then ten years old, and who still survives at the age of ninety-four, 
and is with us to-day. He says : " The whole country was an un- 
broken forest, save where it was interrupted by small openings. 
On the north side of the river Col. Eli Twitchell had a small 
opening where Curatio Bartlett now hves, Dea. Ezra Twitchell 
where Alphin Twitchell now lives, Capt. Eleazer Twitchell where 
Moses A. Mason now lives, and Eliphaz Chapman where Hilliard 
Chapman now lives. On this side the largest openmg was that 
of Lieut. Jonathan Clark. That of Abraham Russell on the 
Grout farm near the depot, and Greely Swan where Ayers Mason 
now lives." With reference to his father's family he says that the 
first winter they could get no grinding done at the mill, and they 
were obliged to live on hulled corn, stewed peas, and bean por- 
ridge, of which the good deacon once complained to your speaker 
that he " ate more that winter than was convenient. ''"' He certainly 
could not have suffered very much, as his great age and good 
health will testify. As soon as they could have cows they lived 
well. These found an abundance of forage on the intervales, 
though the wild onion was so abundant as seriously to affect their 
milk, whose unpleasant flavor they avoided by eating an onion be- 
fore partaking of the milk. 

Allusion has already been made to John Grover. He and four 
brothers settled on or near Grover Hill. Though rather tardy in 
getting married, yet, Mr. President, as all good citizens should do, 
he married, uniting his fortune with that of Miss Wiley of Frye- 
burg, of whose children may especially be noted Dr. John Grover, 
for more than fifty years a physician in this town. 

RETROSPECT. 
Let us glance for a moment at the condition of these pioneers 
who had come from a country comparatively old, to a wilderness. 



24 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

Their route from Massachusetts to Sudbury Canada was either 
by Avay of Fryeburg, or to Standish, and then across Sebago and 
Long Ponds, on the ice in the winter, or in boats in the summer, 
and the rest of the way through a dense forest. Their most fre- 
quent neighbors were the Indians, who still occupied the region as 
their hunting ground, and who claimed a legal right to the country. 

The pioneers had no roads. Spotted trees served as guide- 
boards. Though exiled from the world, they had stout hearts, and 
the earth yielded bountiful crops. Marvellous stories were told 
by them relating to their crops of wheat, potatoes, and corn on the 
rich soil of the intervales. 

Yet they had their luxuries. They employed their time in the 
spring months in making maple syrup and sugar. Hulled corn 
boiled in maple syrup is no mean fare. Sage tea took the place of 
tea and coffee. Fresh moose steak was as good then as now. 
They could raise the finest wheat, which, made into a cake and 
baked before the rousing fire, had a flavor which is sought in vain 
in modern cookery. Dea. G. W. Chapman commemorates their 
luxuries in verse : 

" Our blueberry sauce and cranberry tart, 
And blessed maple honey, too, 
Kefresli the taste, rejoice the heart, 
And loss of appetite renew." 

Their sleep was just as sweet in a log house as in a palace. The 
blazing hard-wood fire in one corner of their house sent out rays 
of comfort to its inmates. A series of shelves in the kitchen held 
the bright pewter plates and the crockery ware in proud array, 
while the cupboard beneath had two kegs, one of which contained 
molasses. They ate their baked beans in those days with their 
knives instead of their forks, and drank their tea and coffee from 
the saucer if it was too hot. 

A stranger at the table was never waited upon, but was invited 
by the host to help himself to the food placed in the centre. A 
man that could not help himself in those days was considered of 
little account. 

Breakfast was had by candle-light in winter so the men could 
go to the woods by daylight. Dinner was had at twelve o'clock, 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 



25 



and announced by the dinner-horn, or by a halloo from the mother 
of the family. Supper in the evening by candle-light. 

The evenings in autumn and winter were largely spent by the 
men in husking and shelling corn, making shoes, baskets, brooms, 
bottoming chairs, making axe handles, and perhaps an ox yoke. 
The women worked even later at night than the men. Sometimes 
twelve or one o'clock would find the mother busy with her needle, 
preparing for the wants of her family. There was no ten-hour 
system then. The hired man was out of bed by daylight in sum- 
mer, and worked till dark, with only time to eat his meals, and if 
a young man he was expected to see how fast he could work. 
Marvellous stories can be told here to-day by old men of how much 
a man could do in a single day. Fifty years ago it was the best 
man in town that could get ten dollars a month in summer. 

There was a neighborly feeling existing then which is hardly 
known at the present day. If a neighbor called at another's house 
he rarely ever knocked, or if he did he heard the familiar words, 
" walk in." The apple-paring bee, the husking, the raising, the 
quilting bee were scenes of real hearty enjoyment. Public dem- 
onstrations were few, and these served as a substitute and a useful 
purpose. 

The family kitchen was the common reception room for every- 
thing. The long poles overhead served for the clothes after they 
had been washed and ironed, while in the autumn they were cov- 
ered with dried pumpkins and strings of dried apple. The old 
musket which had served in the war hung to a beam overhead. 
The huge fire-place was regularly supplied with a great back-log, 
fore-stick, and other wood every morning. The pile of ashes 
served for roasting potatoes and burying up the coals at night. If 
the fire went out during the night recourse was had to the flint 
and steel and tinder box, or a boy was dispatched to a neighbor's 
for a live coal. Seats were improvised, and the neighbors assem- 
bled in the kitchen for a lecture from the clergyman, while on 
Sunday evening a neighboring youth made his appearance to court 
the oldest, or some other daughter of the family. Candles, and 
lamps, and window curtains were not needed then. The blazing 



26 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

fire shone clieerfullj into the faces of those who made their court- 
ing a serious matter. 

Evenincr visits to each others' houses were common in winter. 
A bowl of apples and a mug of cider always made their appearance. 
A bountiful supper in which doughnuts and mince pies were sure 
to be seen, was followed by stories of pirates and witches which 
abounded in those days, or of the personal adventures in the revo- 
lutionary war, or on some knotty doctrinal subject in theology. 
We smile at these things, but there was a hearty rational pleasure 
scarcely enjoyed by a more artificial state of society. 

They easily made necessity the mother of invention. A wooden 
sap trough could easily be converted into a cradle by the addition 
of a set of rockers. The manufacture of wooden bowls, plates, 
and spoons gave them employment during the long winter even- 
ings. For the want of brick to make a chimney, they could make 
a hole through the roof, and top one out with mud and sticks. A 
moose sled of peculiar construction, called by the Indians tarhoggin^ 
answered a variety of purposes during the winter, while at a later 
period long poles lashed to the sides of a horse served for drawing 
in their supplies from the outer world. Everybody could use 
snow-shoes. Holes dug in the ground served as a place of deposit 
for their potatoes, and a crib made of poles protected their corn. 
Hopes of a better home stimulated them, and their increasing fam- 
ilies and bountiful crops were abundant rewards to them for all 
their toil. 

Among all the inconveniences incident to pioneer life, I have 
never heard of but one instance where a difficult}^ occurred wdiich 
could not in some way be overcome. A man by the name of 
Newland had a fine pig which he placed in a large hollow pine 
stump for his stye. The pig grew rapidly and so large that he 
could not be taken out of his pen without spoiling the stump. 

When coming to Sudbury Canada they spoke of going through 
the woods to the Scoggin country. Everybody knew when a 
stranger came, what was his business, and when he left. 

It may give you some idea of the toils and the strength of the 
men of those days when you are told that Johathan Barker came 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 27 

from Fryeburg on the snow in the spring of 1780, up Sunday river, 
hauhng on a hand-sled a five-pail iron kettle, a three-pail iron pot, 
and a grindstone, while he probably had on his shoulders, his pro- 
visions, his gun and axe. He had his camp plundered by the In- 
dians. His son, Capt. Wm. Barker, aged eighty-six, and his wife 
Abigail Segar, daughter of Nathaniel Segar, aged eighty-three, 
still reside on the farm first cleared by Lieut. Segar, and in the 
house built by him, which are, with Lieut. Clark's house, probably 
the oldest in town. 

Capt. Barker was born on the farm now occupied by John Rus- 
sell. Edmund Bean, aged ninety in November, and present to-day, 
was also born in this town, and these are the two oldest native- 
born citizens now living. 

ACT OF INCORPORATION. 

As the Plantation now rapidly increased in population, the 
citizens petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature for an act of 
incorporation as a town, which was granted June 10, 1796 — 
seventy-eight years ago. 

It might puzzle most of the present population to know what 
place is referred to by the following description of its boundaries 
in the act of incorporation : 

" Beginning at a heach tree marked S. Y. one mile from 
Amarescoggin river and on the north side of Peabody's Patant, 
thence running south 20 degrees east, four miles and one half on 
Peabody's Patant, and Fryeburg Academy land to a hemlock tree 
marked 1-1-1 — 111. Thence east twenty degrees north nine 
miles on Oxford and State lands to a beach tree marked 1. Thence 
north twenty degrees four miles one quarter and sixty rods on 
Newpennicook to Amariscoggin river ; thence west two degrees 
south, three miles and three quarters on Howard's Grant to a 
beach tree ; thence west thirty four degrees south on Thomastown 
to the first mentioned bound." 

Such are the original boundary lines of Bethel. 

The name of Bethel was suggested by Rev. Eliphaz Chapman. 

The first town meeting was held at the house of Gen. Amos 
Hastings, August 15, 1796. 



28 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 



Lieut. Jonathan Clark, Moderator ; Benj. Russell, Town Clerk; 
John Kilgore, Jonathan Clark, Jonathan Bartlett, Selectmen. 
Officers known as hogreeves, whose special duty was to catch and 
yoke all the hogs running at large, were chosen. It was the 
custom from time immemorial, and in some places it has not wholly 
passed away, to elect to this important office the young men ■vvho 
had been married within a year. Accordingly, Mr. John Stearns, 
James Swan, jr., and Silas Powers, were elected hogreeves. 
According to the act of incorporation the town was divided into 
east and west parishes. 

I must pass over the events of the next few years. Settlers 
now poured into the town more rapidly, so that from 1790 to 1796 
a large number of the intervale lots were occupied. This was 
especially the case in the lower part of the town, where the broad 
intervales early attracted the attention of these pioneers. 

It would be pleasant to notice more fully the name of Moses 
Mason, father of the late Dr. Moses Mason, a man of correct 
judgment, good sense, and a peacemaker among his neighbors. 

Samuel B. Locke came to Bethel in 1796. Most of us know 
what a family he reared, and that one. Prof. John Locke, became 
distinguished for his scientific attainments. 

Time will not allow me to-day even to name many families who 
moved into town, which have played an important part in its 
history. The future historian must .do this. 

CLOSE OF THE CENTURY. 
Passing on to the close of the last century it may be well to 
spend a moment in reviewing the ground we have gone over. It 
will be noticed how prominent was the influence of a few family 
names in moulding the character of the town. First — The 
Twitchells were the only descendants of the old proprietors. 
They were strong men, and well fitted for pioneer life. The line 
of the old ballad — 

" And if a Twitcliell strong." 
still holds true of their descendants. 

Then the Grovers, who settled around Grover Hill, should be 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 29 

noticed. Some of them seem to have been horn good, and they 
have played an important part in the history ot the town. 

The Bartletts have always proved an industrious and thriving 
people, and have done their share towards developing the natural 
resources of the town, and adorning it with tasteful residences. 

The Swans should not be forgotten. They seem to have con- 
verged toward that most lovely spot in town known as Swan's 
Hill, which our summer visitors should not fail to see for the 
beautiful scenery, the maple orchards, and thriving farms of its 
occupants. 

The Russells have hardly kept up their original number. Many 
moved from the town, so that comparatively few of the name now 
remain, though of good quality. 

The Chapmans have been among our most successful business 
men. They seem to have the peculiar faculty of buying dear and 
selling cheap, and yet contrive to thrive by the process. 

The Powers are a name highly respectable and successful in 
the various pursuits of life in which they have been engaged, but 
have nearly all left the town. 

The Farwells have held possession of Mt. Farwell, which they 
have embellished with fine farms. 

The Masons, fat at forty, are shrewd in business, and prosperous 
without apparent effort. 

The Beans have acted well their part as good townsmen. 

Then there are the Barkers, the Estes, the Kimballs, and the 
Holts, and other names of equal importance which might be 
mentioned, did time allow. 

Capt. Eleazer Twitchell may be regarded the founder of the 
village of Bethel Hill. He looked with jealous care at everything 
which should bring the Hill into notice. He had a road built from 
the grist-mill up the hill, which gave rise to the name Bethel Hill. 
He had built a large house known as the castle in 1797, on the 
Common, in the rear of the late Lovejoy Hotel, now burnt, where 
he kept tavern, had a store, surveyed lands and timber, and had 
charge of a saw and grist-mill. This was the first house on the 
common. He gave the Common to the parish in 1797, on con- 



30 BETHEL CENTENOTAL. 

dition that the town would clear off the trees and build a church 
on it. The opposition to this measure from the north side of the 
river led to a compromise by building the church near the mouth 
of Mill Brook, some twenty rods above the great bridge over the 
Androscoggin. As he died without giving a deed of the property', 
his heirs, Joseph Twitchell and Jacob EUingwood, gave it by deed 
to the town in 1823. It is to be hoped that the ladies of the 
village will devise means to have the rocks removed and the sur- 
face graded. 

From Capt. Eleazer Twitchell's account book, we have an 
illustration of habits of people. 

$1.33 

.18 

.40 

.26 

.21 

.17 

.05 

.10 

.10 

1.50 

1.04 

.16 

" i mug Toddy, ... .14 

In 1799, James Walker came to Bethel Hill and opened a store 
in one of the rooms in Oapt. Eleazer Twitchell's house. This 
•was the first regular store in town, though Capt. Twitchell and his 
brother Eli had kept a few goods to accommodate the people. In 
1802 he built a large house and store on the spot now occupied 
by Mr. Barden as a hotel. This was the second house built on 
the common. 

There was but one store in the village for many years, and no 
more than two till about the year 1837. Robert A. Chapman 
commenced trade in the village in 1831, and has continued without 
interruption till the present time, a period of forty-three 3'ears, 
and has labored probably more hours during that time than any 
man in town. There are now about thirty stores and shops in 
town where various articles are bought and sold. 



January ye 


11, 1796. 




To 1 Gall, of Rum, 




" 1 pt. do.. 




" 2 qts. Molases, 




« lib Tobacco, 




" 3 lbs. Fish, 




" 1 lb. Sugar, 


1808. 


To 1 mug Cyder, 




" i mug of Flip, 




" 1 gill of Bitters, 




" 1 bush. Salt, 


1810. 


" 1 bush. Pertatoes 


1811. 


To lodging one nite, 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 31 

Among the prominent citizens of Bethel must be mentioned 
Jedediah Burbank, Esq. He settled in 1803 on the farm originally 
cleared by Lieut. Jonathan Clark. As a Justice of the Peace, 
selectman for six years, and a landlord of a public house for many 
years, as an active member in the church, and in the cause of 
temperance and education, he was well-known. He bought the 
castle built by Capt. E. Twitchell, in 1833, and erected the first 
hotel of modern pretensions in 1834, which was afterwards 
enlarged and known as the Lovejoy House. He died Feb. 29, 
1860, aged 75 years. 

EMPLOYMENTS OF THE PEOPLE. 

The following sketch of the condition of our ancestors will show 
in what respect their condition differed from that of the present 
generation : 

They raised flax which was spun and woven into clotli, from 
which they made checked pocket handkerchiefs, checked aprons 
and gowns, while for Sunday shirts nothing better was expected. 
Starched shirt collars were not in fashion then. If anything nice 
was wanted, a few pounds of India cotton was woven with the 
linen. From the coarser tow, trowsers were made, and working 
shirts and frocks in summer. No bathing cloth was ever better 
for the skin than a coarse tow shirt, of which your speaker will 
show you a specimen woven for him half a century ago. The 
wool from their sheep was manufactured into blankets, woolen 
shirts, frocks and waled cloth colored blue, while one web. went to 
the fulhng mill, out of which go-to-meeting clothes were made. 
They did not suffer from the cold. Every farmer carried his calf 
and cowskins to the tanner, who changed them into leather, and 
often he spent the fall and winter evenings in making boots and 
shoes for his family. A pair of calfskin shoes was considered a 
fine present to the good mother and oldest daughter of the family. 
The boys could wear cowhide shoes, which well greased with 
tallow, looked nearly as well as calfskin. A young man dressed 
as a dandy was of no account whatever. Gradually the well-to-do 
citizen wore a buff vest and a long tailed coat made of English 
blue broadcloth, and adorned with brass buttons, while a ruffled 



32 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

shirt appeared prominently in front. A watch chain with a car- 
nehan seal hung from his pantaloons. Drawers and undershirts 
were articles unknown. For the older men, a red bandanna 
pocket handkerchief served for that purpose, and a muffler for the 
neck in cold weather ; while the young men had a gay colored silk 
handkerchief, one end of which a quarter of a yard in length was 
sure to hang from the coat pocket behind as a flag of truce. No 
young man in those days was considered well dressed without this 
appendage. 

The ladies wore their dresses with a short waist and a short 
skirt, exhibiting a well turned ankle and foot, which was covered 
with a shoe having a black silk bow or buckles on the top. A 
Vandyke surrounded the neck, pinned down at a point behind and 
before. A ruffle surrounded the neck, and the married ladies had 
a cap containing many yards of ruffle. No doubt they appeared 
very handsome and attractive, especially when a neat row of spit 
curls bordered a comely face. A gentleman with a lady behind 
him on horseback was a pleasant, and sometimes an enviable sight. 

At their huskings, quiltings, and social gatherings, there was an 
artless simplicity of manner among the young, which would not 
be witnessed on similar occasions at the present day. Society had 
its conventionalities the same as now. A clergyman in a gray or 
blue suit of clothes would have lost his position in his parish. 
Everybody with a beard, shaved once in a week, either Saturday 
afternoon or Sunday morning. An unchristian, unshaved man 
did not then exist. 

Fashion had its absurdities as great as those of to-day. The 
huge, protruding bonnet in front can only be excelled by the no 
bonnet at all of the present day. Shoes, with high, slender heels, 
projecting from the sole of the foot, has no corresponding deformity 
now. Huge earrings, and combs on the top of the head, were 
extravagances like those in a different way at the present time. 
Large, flowing dresses with long trails existed then as now. 
Ladies were admired as much then as those of to-day. The 
powdered wig of the last century has no corresponding absurdity 
to-day, while the handkerchief with its several folds around the 
neck, has given way to the more comfortable necktie. 



BETHEL CENTENlSriAL. 66 

EEVOLUTIONAEY SOLDIEKS. 

At the close of the revolution forty-five of the soldiers sought 
the new lands of Sudbury Canada for a home. Lieut. Jona- 
than Clark served as a commissary. He was taken by the 
Indians, but afterwards released. Isaac T. York served five 
years. Capt. Eli Twitchell was at Bunker Hill immediately 
after the battle, where he became crippled for life by carrying 
too heavy a gun. Zela Holt was in the French war, where 
he kept a diary. He was at the capture, of Burgoyne. Moses 
Mason was in the battle of Bennington. Jonathan Bean 
served three years. John Grover was at Dorchester Heights. 
Ebenezer Eames was at the capture of the Hessians. Ben- 
jamin Brown was born in Lynn, Mass., and was in the army 
five years. He was at the battle of Lexington and Bunker Hill, 
where he received a bullet wound in the top of his head. Amos 
Hastings (brig, general) assisted in digging the trench at Bunker 
Hill. He was present at the capture of Fort Edward, and Bur- 
goyne. Absalom Farwell, a native of England, was in the French 
war. He was taken prisoner and carried to England, where he 
was in the king's service nineteen years. He returned and was 
present in the battle of Bunker Hill and Bennington. Ezra 
Twitchell marched into Boston when the British evacuated it. 
He was at the battle of Saratoga. John Walker was in a priva- 
teer which was chased up the Penobscot and abandoned. Benja- 
min Russell, sen., was in the French and Indian wars, and in the 
revolution. He was well versed in Indian warfare. Rev. Daniel 
Gould was an orderly sergeant. Nathaniel Segar was in the 
revolution two years and nine months, and sixteen months a pris- 
oner. He was at the retreat at Bunker Hill, and assisted in forti- 
fyino; Ticonderoga. Samuel Barker was a tailor. He boasted of 
mending Gen. Washington's clothes, ^ehn Russell went in a 
privateer. Isaac Russell was a clerk in the army. He perished 
in a snow storm in Westbrook. Dea. John Holt was in the army 
three years. Solomon Annis was in the French war. 

Other names, of which I have no account, are James Mills, 
Amos Gage, Jesse Dustan, Moses Bartlett, John Holt, Daniel B^ 
3 



34 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

Swan, Joseph Kilgore, Jeremiah Andrews, Wilham Staples, El- 
hanan Sprague, Samuel Ingalls, Thaddeus Bartlett, Jeremiah 

Russell, James Swan, Simeon Sanborn, Powers, Job York, 

John York, Jonathan Conn, James Mills, Capt. Peter Twitchell 
served under Gen. Lincoln in quelling Shay's rebellion, Jonathan 
Bean, James Barker, Jacob Russell went in a privateer, Sergeant 
Daniel Gage was in the battles of Monmouth and Trenton. 

The personal history of these soldiers would form a volume of 
no mean pretensions. 

TWITCHELL'S GEIST-MILL. 

This mill has a history of its own. Built in 1774, it was at 
first without a miller, each patron grinding his own grist. It was 
liable to get out of repair and freeze up in winter, so that the in- 
habitants were compelled to grind their grain in hand mills. Capt. 
Twitchell repaired it in 1781. In 1788 it was rebuilt by Samuel 
Redington, a millwright of Augusta, father of the late Judge 
Redington. In 1802 a tub Avheel was put in, which was regarded 
a great improvement. 

In subsequent j'ears it ground slow, as if under the direction of 
the gods. Persons living can remember Capt. Twitchell as the 
miller, who would put in a grist and leave the mill to spend the 
evening at a neighbor's, where he spent his time in singing, " My 
name is Robert Kidd as I sailed." 

Sometimes he spent the whole night grinding for customers, and 
sleeping on a seat constructed for the purpose, before a huge fire 
built in the wall of the mill. After him Mr. Jesse Cross was the 
miller. He would put three bushels of wheat in the hopper at 
night, set the mill to running, go home and spend the night, and 
next morning visit the mill and find the grist still unfinished. 

I must here allude to another grist-mill. Mr. Jesse Dustan, 
who came to town in 1778, erected a small water wheel in a brook, 
on or near the Adam Willis' farm in Hanover, and attached a 
small granite stone which turned like a grindstone. Beneath this 
was another stone hollowed out so as to receive the edge of the 
revolving stone. Corn was dropped in by hand. My informant 
states that the meal was not very fine, but that it answered a very 
good purpose. 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 35 

Tlie first mill at Walker's Mills was built by David Blake in 
1804. He had previously built mills on Wild river in Gilead, 
which were swept away. 

ECCLESIASTICAL. EIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. ^ 

Previous to 1798 there had visited the town and preached to 
the people, ministers by the names of Taft, White, Rev. Dr. Coffin 
of Buxton, and Rev. Wm. Fessendeii of Fryeburg. 

The first meeting for organization in a religious society was lield 
in the west Parish, Sept. 8th, 1796. In 1797 the parish voted to 
raise $120 to hire preaching the ensuing year, and $20 to defray 
expenses. In 1798 Rev. Caleb Bradley taught school in town 
and became a candidate for settlement, and went so far as to pub- 
lish a Thanksgiving sermon, which was the first literary production 
emanating from the town. In 1799 Rev. Daniel Gould, a gradu- 
ate of Harvard College, became a rival candidate, and was chosen 
by a majority of one vote. He was chosen pastor that year at a 
salary of $160 the first year, and to rise ten dollars a year. One- 
third of his salary was to be paid in money, and the other 
two-thirds in produce. He was installed pastor of the 1st Con- 
gregational church Oct. 9, 1799. The services were held on the 
common, where a booth was erected for the council, and seats for 
the audience. It was a great event to the town, and the less 
godly young people had a dance in the evening at Twitchell's 
tavern to commemorate the event. 

Mr. Gould continued pastor till 1809, when he was dismissed, 
but resided in town till 1815. He taught a school for the young 
men at his house, and did much to introduce elevated views on all 
matters pertaining to the education of the young. 

He was neat in his personal appearance, and probably a little 
vain. In his cocked hat, black silk gown, breeches and long stock- 
ings, h*e endeavored to maintain the dignity of his position. It is 
said that he read the Bible through in course forty-eight times. 

Oct. 7, 1799, the first church consisting of eleven members 
was organized. Joseph Greenwood, James Grover, Ezra Twitch- 
ell, Zela Holt, Eleazer Twitchell, Asa Kimball, Benjamin Russell, 
Sarah Greenwood, Susanna Twitchell, Mary Greenwood, Mary 



36 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

Russell were its members. In 1819 Rev. Henry Sewall was in- 
stalled as pastor. His relation with the people was not happy, and 
he was dismissed in the following year. Rev. Charles Frost, then 
a young man, was ordained in 1822, and continued pastor of the 
church till his death in 1850, a period of twenty-eight years. His 
labors were eminently successful. About one hundred and sixty 
united with the church during his ministry. Time will allow 
me only to mention the names of his successors : Rev. John H. H. 
Leland, Rev. E. A. Buck, Rev. J. B. Wheelwright, and Rev. E. 
H. Titus. 

The first church was erected on the banks of the river in 1806, 
and finished in 1816. It was situated about thirty rods above the 
present bridge. It was nearly square, with a hipped roof, a small 
cupola in the centre surmounted by a pole, on which perched a 
rooster, who honors us with his presence to-day. Though made a 
target for bullets by the boys, he refused to be killed, and by the 
aid of putty and paint he does good service as a sentinel on the 
barn of Chester L. Twitchell, on the farm of the late Dea. Nathan 
Twitchell. In 1848 the church was abandoned by the society for 
the one erected the previous year in the village. 

CALVINIST BAPTISTS. 
A few of the earlier settlers sympathized with the Calvinist 
Baptists. Ministers from Paris and Hebron visited them as early 
as 1792. They engaged as a minister. Rev. John Chadbourne, 
but had no increase. Benj. Cole came from Pejepscot and 
preached to them in 1800. In 1802 and 1803- they had an 
addition of four by baptism, and partook of the Lord's Supper for 
the first time. In 1807, Rev. Ebenezer Bray became their pastor, 
and continued till 1812. Rev. Arthur Drinkwater, still living, 
preached from 1812 to 1817. In 1818, Rev. Daniel Mason be- 
came pastor, and continued till his death in 1835. In 1836, 
Rev. Benj. Donham became pastor, followed by Rev. Wm. 
Beavins, and Rev. Otis B. Rawson, their present pastor. Within 
a few years they have concentrated their labors at Bean's Corner. 



BETHEL CENTElSnsriAL. 37 

THE METHODISTS. 

About the beginning of the year 1798, Nicholas Snething, 
stationed on the Portland circuit, visited Bethel and organized a 
society of fourteen members, and in the following spring, John 
Martin, a local preacher, preached a few times, and the same year 
Joshua Taylor of Falmouth, preached to them. They were con- 
nected with the Portland circuit. Joseph Baker came in 1800 
and the place was set off as a separate circuit. The following is a 
list of the first few circuit preachers : 1800, Joseph Baker ; 1802, 
Daniel Jones; 1803, David Stinson; 1804, Allen H. Cobb ; 1805, 
Daniel Pferry. This society did not seem to flourish, and at one 
time became nearly extinct, but in 1858 they wisely chose to con- 
centrate their efforts, built a neat church in the village in 1859, 
have been fortunate in an able ministry since that time, and have 
enjoyed a good degree of prosperity. 

FREE BAPTIST CHURCH. 

The Free Baptist Church was organized May 27, 1818, with 
fourteen members, and united with the Sandwich Quarterly Meet- 
ing, but in 1835 it removed its standing to the Otisfield Quarterly 
Meeting. Among the first ministers who labored here were Dudley 
Pettingill, Samuel Hutchinson, Zachariah Jordan,' Joseph Wright, 
and G. F. Smith. Pastors, Samuel Haselton, from 1835 to 1844. 
Geo. W. Whitney, from 1844 to 1848. E. Hart, one year clos- 
ing, 1852. Daniel Allen, from 1852 to 1865. James Porter, one 
year, 1867. E. G. Eaton, from 1868 to 1870. 

A church was built at West Bethel in 1844, and dedicated Jan. 
1, 1845. Present number on church records, 54. 

ITNIVEESALISTS. 

The Universalist Society was organized Dec, 1847, consisting 
of eight persons, and Rev. Geo. Bates preached a few Sabbaths in 
the Academy during the following year. In 1854 they erected a 
church at Bethel Hill, and chose Rev. Zenas Thompson as pastor, 
who continued as such till 1857. Rev. A. G. Gaines of Kentucky, 
was chosen pastor in 1857, and continued till 1864. Under his 
ministry the society .prospered. Death and removal have material- 



ob BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

Ij affected the society, but they have maintained public worship a 
portion of the time from tlieir organization. 

SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

The Second Congregational Church was organized Jan. 31, 
1849. This body was formed from the first society in consequence 
of the distance to the village and the difficulty of crossing the 
river in a ferry-boat. Rev. David Garland was ordained pastor, 
Aug. 15, 1849, and has continued as such till the present time, a 
period of twenty-five years. It has been said of him what can be 
said of few country pastors, that he has never during this quarter 
of a century failed to preach on the Sabbath for want of health, or 
failed to have his choir respond to the hymn read at the proper 
time. 

There are seven places of public worship in the town, in six of 
which services are usually regularly held. 

IVIEDICAL PROFESSION. 

In the early settlement of the town the inhabitants were com- 
pelled to go thirty miles to Fryeburg for a physician. Soon after 
the close of the revolution, a vagabond physician named Martin, 
who came to this country with Baron Steuben, visited the town, 
but soon left. The first physician who settled here was Dr. John 
Brickett of Haverhill, Mass. This was in 1796. He lived on 
tke spot now occupied by Aaron Cross. In 1798, he removed to 
Newburyport, where he had an extensive practice, and where he 
died. The only special record I find of him is a charge against 
him in Capt. Eleazer Twitchell's account book for three-fourths of 
a pound of brimstone. History does not inform us whether it was 
employed for bleaching hops, or for some other purpose. 

Molyockett, the Indian doctress, visited the town, collected 
roots and herbs, and made poultices, salves, and drinks for the 
inhabitants. 

In 1799, Dr. Timothy Carter moved to Bethel from Massa- 
chusetts, and settled at Middle Intervale, and continued in practice 
till his death in 1845, a period of forty-six years. His practice 
extended from Dixfield to Shelburne, N. H., a distance of nearly 



BETHEL CEKTENNIAL. 39 

fifty miles. When he settled in Bethel there were but seventy- 
five persons living in the West Parish. He reared a large family 
who have honorably filled the different professions of theology, 
law, medicine, political, mercantile, and agricultural life. This 
interesting family is worthy of more extended notice than my 
limits will allow. He had no rival in practice till 1813, when Dr. 
Moses Mason settled on Bethel Hill, and Dr. John Grover, in 
1816. 

Dr. Moses Mason came to town with his parents from Dublin, 
N. H., when two years old, and entered the practice of medicine 
in 1813, which was respectable and lucrative, but his mind in- 
clined more to public affairs, and when elected to represent his 
constituents as representative to Congress, he wholly relinquished 
his profession. He died in 1866. 

Dr. John Grover was son of John Grover of Bethel. He was 
a student by nature, and kept up his studies till the week of his 
death. In Latin, Greek, French, Mathematics, and Natural 
Science, he was able to converse more intelligently than any 
person ever born in town. He commenced the practice of medi- 
cine in 1816, which he pursued till his death, in 1866, a period of 
fifty years. Dr. Grover was a member of the convention that 
met in 1820 to frame the Constitution of Maine. 

Prof John Locke, M. D., came to this town of Bethel with his 
father in 1796, when but four years old, where he acquired those 
habits which classed him among the distinguished scientific men of 
his day. His studies in chemistry, medicine, botany, his lectures 
on these subjects, his position of teacher of botany when a young 
man to Pres. Kirkland of Harvard College, his position as Assistant 
Surgeon in the Navy ; his Young Ladies Seminary in Cincinnati ; 
his position as Prof of Chemistry in the Medical College of Ohio ; 
his original investigations in electricity and magnetism ; his reports 
on the geology of Ohio ; his invention of the Electro-chronograph 
for measuring longitudes, for which Congress gave him $10,000. 
These and many other subjects with which he became familiar, are 
well known to the historical, scientific student. 

The oldest practicing physician in town is Dr. Robert G. Wiley, 



40 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

who for forty years lias rode over the hills and valleys of this and 
neighboring towns, and for aught we can tell, will ride forty years 
more. No young phj'sician should come into town with the ex- 
pectation that the Doctor will die very soon. 

Among the prominent physicians we must mention Dr. Almon 
Twitchell, son of Joseph Twitchell. After fitting for college and 
teaching school for a series of years, he graduated in medicine at 
Bowdoin College. In 1843 he commenced practice in Bethel, 
which he continued till his death in 1859, at the age of 48 years. 
Dr. Twitchell Avas a public spirited man and ever alive to what he 
deemed the good of society, and was a serious loss to the town. 

It is remarkable that physicians here have rarely been personally 
assailed by detraction. Each family employs its own physician, 
leaving to others the same privilege. Impudent quackery could 
never flourish here. An intelligent community is no place for 
impostors, and the latter are aware of it, and keep at a respectful 
distance. There are now five regular practicing physicians in 
town. 

LEGAL TROFESSION. 

For forty-five years after the settlement of the town it had no 
lawyers. Neighbors settled their differences, if they had any, 
among themselves, while the Justice of the Peace usually per- 
formed the duties of the modern attorney. 

In 1823, Wm. Frye, a young man, and grandson of Gen. Joseph 
Frye, came from Fryeburg to Bethel. Scholarly in his tastes, a 
peacemaker by nature, correct in his decisions, ever sustaining a 
high degree of integrity of character and cautiousness for his 
clients, he secured a prominent position among the lawyers of the 
Oxford Bar, and important political trusts, and died honored and 
lamented, in 1854. 

From that time there have been several lawyers who have 
succeeded well in their profession, and by their ability to engage 
in other kinds of employment, so that we regard them as honest as 
an}'- other class of citizens, provided, the rest of us are equally so. 
There are now seven practicing attorneys in tlie town. 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 41 

EDUCATION. 

The first settlers brought with them the habits of their Puritan 
ancestors, and early took measures to have their children enjoy 
the advantages of education. The first school of which I have 
any account was kept in a private house by John Mason, near 
John Barker's. This was near the year 1788. About this time a 
log school-house was built at the corner of the road opposite Mills 
Brown's house. The seats were made of slabs. Rev. Eliphaz 
Chapman taught there in 1792. Sally Fessenden, daughter of 
Rev. Wm. Fessenden of Fryeburg, taught a school in the summer 
of 1793. In 1798, Rev. Caleb Bradley taught a private school in 
Lieut. Clark's house. He had twenty scholars. Gen. John Perley 
taught about this time. He left a reputation of being a noble 
schoolmaster. 

Abigail Chapman, having studied grammar with Rev. Daniel 
Gould, opened the first grammar school in what is now Hanover, 
in 1799. In that year Rev. Daniel Gould opened a boarding- 
school at his house on the farm now owned by Aaron Cross, where 
for fifteen years he continued to board and educate youth of both 
sexes. Probably his school did more to give character to the town 
than anything else ever done for it. He was a good linguist and 
mathematician, and took pleasure in teaching. Subsequently 
many of the young men in town fitted for college and graduated. 
It is believed that the name of at least one student has been on 
every annual catalogue of Bowdoin College for more than forty 
years. 

In 1835 the citizens formed an organization as trustees of the 
Bethel High School, and employed your speaker as its principal. 
A hall was fitted up for a school-room in the ell of the late Love- 
joy House, first built by the late Jedediah Burbank, Esq. Here 
assembled for three terms the young men and women of the town, 
out of which have emanated much of the subsequent literary and 
executive ability of the town. More than one-third of that num- 
ber are now dead. Board of principal at hotel, $1.25, with wood, 
candles, and washing. 

It is of interest to notice the aspirations of the young men in 



42 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

this school at that time. From a catalogue now in my possession, 
I find the names of Zenas Bartlett, M. D., of Dixfield, now dead ; 
Moses B. Bartlett, A. M., a lawyer, in Wyandote, Kan. ; Rev. 
Ezekiel W. Coffin, Mass. ; John P. Davis, lawyer. Senator from 
Cumberland County ; James H. P. Frost, A. M., M. D., German- 
town, Pa. ; Maj. Abernethy Grover, A. M., representative to 
Legislature of Maine ; Talleyrand Grover, A. M., Professor of 
Ancient Languages in Delaware College, Delaware ; Maj. O'Neil 
W. Robinson, A. M., lawyer. Bethel; Rev. Addison Abbott, 
Bethel ; Samuel B. Twitchell, A. M., M. D., Wakefield, N. H. ; 
Lawson Allen, M. D., Andover; Augustus J. Burbank, A. B., 
settled West; Maj. G. A. Hastings, representative to Legislature 
of Maine ; David R. Hastings, A. M., Esq., Fryeburg ; Moses 
Ingalls, A. M., M. D., Ohio; Lafayette Grover, M. C, now 
Governor of Oregon ; Brevet Brig. Gen. Wm. Kimball, A. M., 
Marshal of Maine, Paris ; Eli Wight, A. B., principal of N. 
Yarmouth Academy ; Col. Robert I. Burbank, A. M., Boston, 
member of Massachusetts Legislature ; Rev. Wellington Newell, 
Mass. ; Rev. John G. Pingree ; Wm. Williamson, M. D., Bethel ; 
Rev. Javan K. Mason, A. M., Thomaston ; Hiram Ellingwood, 
Esq., INIilan, N. H., representative to Legislature ; Hiram Bartlett, 
M. D. ; Almon Twitchell, M. D., Bethel, senator for Oxford 
Co. ; Leander T. Chapman, M. D. 

Of this list nine are dead. The isolated condition of the town 
at this time kept the young people at home till they were of mature 
age. 

Encouraged by their success, the trustees reorganized the com- 
ing year and obtained a charter for an Academy, and a building 
was erected and a school set in operation in the autumn of 1836, 
Isaac Randall, Esq., now of Dixfield, as preceptor. By a donation 
from Rev. Daniel Gould it was named Gould's Academy. A grant 
of half a township of land was made in 1850. The patronage of 
this Academy has been more uniform and better sustained from 
that time to the present than that of any similar school in the 
State. It needs an endowment from some of the wealthy sons 
and daughters of Bethel to erect a new building, and to render its 
benefits of still greater value to coming generations. 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 43 

It was a remark of the late Prof. Parker Cleaveland to your 
speaker that Bethel sent more students to college in proportion to 
its population than any other town in the State. 

OFFICERS IN THE LATE WAR. 

During the late civil war Bethel furnished her quota of men. 
The following is a list of officers resident or native-born : 

Lieut. Wm. F. Twitchell, 5th Maine Battery, killed at second 
battle of Bull Run. Lieut. Washington F. Brown, 5tli Maine 
Lif., wounded, died at Soldiers' Home, Washington, D. C. Lieut. 
Harlan P. Brown, killed at Antietam. Lieut. Wm. H. H. Brown, 
died at Tliibodeaux, La. Maj. O'Neil W. Robinson, 4th Maine 
Battery, died. Capt. Elisha Winter, 12th Maine Inf., died in 
Bethel. Maj. G. A. Hastings, 12th Maine Inf. Brev. Brig. Gen. 
C. S. Edwards. Capt. John B. Walker, 5th Maine Inf. Lieut. 
Cyrus M. Wormell, 5th Maine Inf. Lieut. Simeon Sanborn, 5tli 
Maine Inf. Lieut. Melville C. Kimball, 4th Maine Battery. 
Lieut. James C. Bartlett. Lieut. John M. Freeman, 4th Maine 
Battery. Lieut. Timothy M. Bean, 12th Maine Inf. Brev. Maj. 
Adelbert B. Twitchell, Maine Artillery. Lieut. E. Mellen Wight. 
Capt. and A. Q. M., S. F. Gibson. Lieut. James E. Ayer, 12th 
Maine Inf. Capt. John S. Chapman, Corps d' Afrique. Capt. 
Preston Twitchell, Massachusetts Cavalry. Capt. Augustus J. 
Burbank, Maine Cavalry. Brev. Maj. Gen. CuvierGrover. Maj. 
Abernethy Grover, 13th Maine. Capt. George W, Thompson, 
Mass. 34th Inf., killed at battle of Winchester. Lieut. Enoch W. 
Foster, jr., 13th Maine Inf. Capt. Joseph B. Hammond, 16th and 
32d Maine Inf. Lieut. Geo. W. Haskell, 11th Maine Inf. Maj. 
David R. Hastings, 12th Maine Inf. Lieut. Oliver Hapgood, 
Mass. Inf., killed. S. Henry Needham, a native of Bethel, was 
killed during the passage of the Mass. 5th regiment through Balti- 
more, April 19, 1861. 

SOME MEMORANDA OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF BETHEL. 

1797. — The town gave its first vote for State officers. The vote 
for governor was — for Moses Gill, 14. No person could be a voter 
who had less than an annual amount of three pounds, or an estate 



44 BETHEL CENTENNIAL, 

of tlio value of sixty pounds. The first house covered with clap- 
boards was the castle built by Capt. Eleazer Twitchell. The clap- 
boards shone so splendidly in the sun as to attract a great deal of 
attention. 

1798. — The town voted to raise 850 to pay town charges. 

1800. — The first school-house was erected ; the first military 
company was organized ; the first captain was Eli Twitchell ; the 
first chaise was owned by Rev. Daniel Gould. A freshet broke 
up the ice in the winter. 

1801. — Till this year the vote for governor had been unanimous ; 
this year it stood — for Elbridge Gerry, 42 ; for Caleb Strong, 3. 

1802. — The vote for governor was : for Elbridge Gerry, 24 ; for 
Caleb Strong, 16. 

1804.— First death in village at Bethel Hill, Mrs. Abigail 
Walker. 

1806. — The first painted building in the village was the red 
store on the spot where Albert Stiles' house stands. It was re- 
moved to Phineas Stearns' house, where it remained till within a 
few years. 

1808. — The first representative was sent to the Massachusetts 
Legislature — viz., Eliphaz Chapman. 

1810. — It was voted to choose a committee to make arrange- 
ments for celebrating the 4th of July, said committee to inspect 
the oration before it was delivered in public. 

1812. — The first road to Norway was built in 1812-13, over 
Paradise Hill, and all the other bad hills between Bethel and Nor- 
way. 

1814. — First post office established ; post-master, Moses Mason, 
jr. The mail was brought once a week, by way of Waterford, 
Paris, and Rumford. The revenue to government for the first 
quarter was $2.83. The first mail brought one letter, but no pa- 
pers for the first quarter. At this time there were but four dwell- 
ing houses on Bethel Hill. The first house painted white was 
erected on the common, by Dr. Moses Mason. When, subse- 
quently, he added green blinds, he was ridiculed for his extrava- 
gance. Dr. Moses Mason sold two and a half acres of land for a 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 45 

clock case, situated on Main street, now occupied by Timothy 
Barker, Hiram Young, and Migliil Mason as house lots. Gen. 
John Chandler passed tlirough the town in a chaise after his re- 
lease from captivity by the British. 

1817. — The first Sunday-school was organized. Also the 
mountains were burned over. Farmers carried their wheat to 
Westbrook to be ground, and sold it in Portland at $10 per hun- 
dred pounds. 

1818. — Mr. George Crawford (who died in Durham the pres- 
ent year) bought, for $Q5, an acre of land situated in the rear of 
R. A. Chapman's brick store, and extending across the street so as 
to cover the spot now occupied by Moses T. Cross for stores. 

1821. — The first sofa was owned by Dr. Moses Mason. It was 
made in town, by a Mr. Bonney. 

1823. — The low grounds and hills were burned over, and all 
the growth we now see is fifty years old. The same year scarlet 
fever was very fatal. 

1824. — The first barrel of flour was brought into town by Capt. 
John Harris. Up to this time the inhabitants had always raised 
more wheat than they consumed. He also brought a barrel of 
rectified spirits, a part of which he sold for a dollar a gallon, while 
his wife brought from Westbrook a barrel of vinegar and a barrel 
of dried apple, under the impression that there were no orchards 
in the town. 

1827. — The last beaver was caught. It was taken in Alder 
river. The first temperance society was organized, Dr. Timothy 
Carter, president. 

1835. — At this time the land on Main street, from Sylvester 
Robertson's house to Charles Mason's, was an alder swamp. 

1838. — The first bridge was built across the Androscoggin, and 
the following January, 1839, an ice freshet, the greatest ever known 
on the river, swept it away. 

1840, — The first piano was brought into town by Henry Ward, 
from Portland. His wife's mother, Mrs. Austin, claimed to own 
the first piano ever brought to Portland. 

1846. — The second piano was introduced by Hon. Moses Ma- 



46 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

son. He was never happier than when inviting his Httle neice, 
Cjrene S. Ayer, to play Little Bopeep to his visitors. 

1852. — The first melodeon was introduced by your speaker, and 
he has never listened to such sweet music from a thousand instru- 
ments since those years. 

1856. — The last moose was killed in town by John D. Hast- 
ings. 

1858. — The first printing press was established in December. 
It printed the " Bethel Courier," a weekly journal, Cady & Smith 
editors and proprietors. Only two files are known to be in exis- 
tence ; one is in the possession of Mrs. Cyrene S. Twitchell, of 
Bethel, and the other of J. Q. A. Twitchell, of Portland. The 
last bear shot in the vicinity of the village was killed that year by 
Rev. Zenas Thompson. 

1859. — The last loupcervier, a species of wild cat, was killed by 
Daniel S. Hastings. 

1868. — Bridge across the Androscoggin river built at a cost of 
$20,000. 

1873. — The first use of mineral coal in town for warming pri- 
vate dwellings was by Oliver H. Mason. 

ISirSCELLANEOUS. 

The area af the town is 25,920 acres. Its length on the line of 
Albany and Greenwood is eleven miles and twenty-five rods. 
Diagonally, twelve and a half miles. There are sixteen islands in 
the Androscoggin river, the largest containing forty acres. 

The Androscoggin river runs seventeen miles through the town. 
The whole length of intervale lands on the Androscoggin river 
and tributaries, is about thirty-five miles. 

Nearly all tlie farms on the Androscoggin are in the possession 
of the descendants of the first settlers. It is rare that one of 
them can be purchased. They are an annual source of an im- 
mense income to the town. 

Previous to the extension of the Grand Trunk Railway to 
Bethel, Avhich was opened March 10, 1851, the inhabitants had 
their heavy goods brought to Harrison in summer from Portland 
by the Cumberland and Oxford Canal, and then by teams twenty 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 47 

miles to Bethel. Farmers usually carried their pork and beef to 
Portland with their own teams in winter, and exchanged them for 
their family supplies. The opening of the railroad changed every- 
thing at once. The village commenced growing rapidly, and new 
dwelling houses have been erected every year since that time. 
The local trade is extensive and flourishing, and Bethel Hill having 
no rival village has attained to the character of one of the pleas- 
antest and most thriving villages in the State. 

Every town at its centennial celebration is expected to present 
to the public proof of something remarkable and worthy of record. 
Two points are to be considered here. One is the solid character 
and elevated tone given to the education of the young ladies in the 
town forty years ago. It is a curious fact that what grave educa- 
tors are elsewhere discussing as to the capabilities of the female 
sex to grapple with the languages and mathematics in the same 
classes with their brothers at school, has been fully tested in this 
town, and decided in their favor for more than a quarter of a 
century. 

As a consequence, no doubt, no sensible young man residing 
here ever thinks of going out of town in search of a wife, while a 
great many sensible men who visit the town whether for that 
imrpose or not, rarely leave it without taking with them one of its 
daughters. 

It is certain that there is no town in Maine, and but few in New 
England, which has such charming natural scenery, and in so 
great a variety as Bethel. A ride up and down the Androscoggin 
presents a moving panorama of new scenes, each worthy the 
attention of the painter. To its citizens these scenes are real 
pictures and real poems, and give but little room for exciting the 
imagination. The pleasant and tasteful homes, the enterprise 
and air of thrift everywhere manifest, strike the beholder from 
other lands with peculiar emotions. These charming scenes com- 
bined with the pure air and inspiring cool breezes from the White 
Mountains, are always hailed with peculiar pleasure by the sum- 
mer tourists who flee from the close and hot air of the city to the 
open country. The broad and rich intervales in the lower part of 



48 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

this town, and at Middle Intervale, and the varied scenery on the 
upper part of the town as seen from some elevated spot, leave 
impressions that cannot be found on tlie flat prairies of the West, 
or the low lands of Holland. 

CONCLUSION. 

We now number a population including that portion of Han- 
over which originally formed a part of Bethel, and was set off 
Feb. 14, 1843, about two thousand three hundred souls. It is not 
a manufacturing town. Every occupant of a farm is supposed to own 
it. Every prudent mechanic soon has a home of his own. Every 
man engaged in trade is expected to gain a competency. Bank- 
ruptcy rarely occurs. While in England and Wales, one out of 
every twenty-four persons is a pauper. While in Europe the 
traveller is beset by beggars that swarm around him, in this town 
three fourths of its inhabitants never saw a pauper or beggar. 
Our villages and our dwellings, like our landscapes, improve every 
year; indicating taste, refinement, and intelligence. Intemper- 
ance, the curse of many towns, has been but lightly felt here. Its 
sons and daughters with habits of industry may be found in every 
State in the Union, prospering, as a matter of fact. Like a bird- 
ling which looks out of its paternal nest and desires to fly, so do 
the young men and women flee away to form homes of their own. 
We rejoice that it is so. We are proud of them in their success. 

If we cannot record among our citizens great orators, statesmen, 
or warriors, we can present a long array of names who have be- 
come good citizens of our Republic in the highest sense of the 
term. Six of its citizens have represented their constituents in 
Congress. One native born is now Governor of a State. One is 
now a Colonel in the United States Army. Three have been 
professors in our colleges, Avhile many have honorably filled the 
positions assigned them by their fellow citizens. The number who 
have entered the learned professions is very large. 

This day is an important event in the history of this town, and 
when the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seven- 
ty-four rolls round, though scarcely' a dwelling now existing may 
remain as a land-mark of the past, yet progress will be stamped all 



BETHEL CENTEKNTAL. 49 

over its surface, and our names and the names of our fathers Avill 
be held in grateful remembrance by those who shall celebrate the 
next centennial of Bethel. 

Mr. President, I want to live one century from to-day, and see 
what changes will have occurred in the world's progress. I want 
to see how this town will look at that time. I want to see what 
discoveries have been made in science, what inventions in the arts, 
what advancement in human culture, in virtue, and happiness. 
Some present may yet have grandchildren who will witness and 
read the annals of a century yet unborn. It is a grand thought, 
on which we cannot expatiate, but must leave the problem of 
man's highest destiny to be wrought out by future generations. 

Farewell to the great Past, and welcome to the great unknown 
Future ! May that kind Providence which has watched over our 
fathers still hover over their sons and daughters to remote genera- 
tions. 

4 



50" BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 



I 



CENTENNIAL POEM. 



BY PROF. HENRY LELAND CHAPMAN, OF BOWDOIN COLLEGE. 



When Jacob, with his father's blessing crowned, 

Went forth toward Haran, — 'mong whose flocks he found 

That Rachel for whose sake he patient wrought 

Twice seven years and gained the love he sought, — 

His steps upon a certain place did light. 

And tarried, so the Scripture saith, all night ; 

His heart, perchance, went forward in its quest, 

His feet were weary, and they needed rest. 

Wild was the spot the footsore pilgrim chose, 

Most fit to urge, but scarce to give, repose ; 

Thick-strewn with stones, and frigid 'neath the reign 

Of utter silence, lay that eastern plain. 

Where mother earth so stern and cold did keep. 

How could she lull a tired child to sleep ? 

The shadows deepened, and the pilgrim lone 

Sought his hard couch, and, from the pillowing stone, 

Saw the slow step of night, and in the sky 

Her twinkling footprints as she glided by. 

What though, indeed, the stones that formed his bed 

Gave little comfort to his weary head ! 






BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 51 

He saw the solemn beauty of the skies. 
And peace and rest fell on his closing eyes. 
And thus he slept ; when, lo ! a fairer sight 
Broke through the shadows of the silent night ; 
Floated his senses on a noiseless stream 
Touched with the radiance of a heavenly dream. 

A ladder rose, whose countless rounds of light 

Wearied the dreamer's upward-climbing sight ; 

From earth to heaven it stretched — a glorious way, 

From shades of night to realms of endless day. 

And angels walked thereon, whose shining feet 

Came tripping down in eager haste to greet 

The sleeping pilgrim, in whose quest of love 

The angel host did sympathize above. 

And where the mystic ladder pierced the sky, 

Shrouded in light, and clothed in majesty, 

Appeared the Lord of heaven and earth supreme. 

Whose gracious accents crowned the blissful dream. 

" Lo, I am with thee ! and my love shall trace 

The path that leads thee from thy resting-place ; 

Thy father's God am I, and Abraham knew 

My gracious guidance, and to Jacob, too, 

I promise all the riches of this land, 

And ceaseless blessings from my open hand- 

Yea, like the dust of earth thy seed shall be, 

In number countless ; and all eyes shall see 

It spread from North to South, from East to West, 

'Till all the families of the earth are blessed 

In thee, who takest here thy needed rest." 

O mortals, weary with the cares 

That round your pathways throng, 
The hardest resting-place may be 

The fittest ground for song. 



52 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

The feet that falter not, tho' faint, 

May reach, at setting sun, 
A spot more rugged than the road 

With which the day begun ; — 

The head no softer pillow find 
Than the unyielding stone. 

The shadows gather round a soul 
That weary is, and lone ; 

But heaven consoles whom earth afflicts, 

And opens wide its gates. 
To him who, reckless of the road. 

On duty ever waits ; 

And ministers of love descend 
With healing on their wings, 

And in sweet visions of the night 
Reveal celestial things ; 

And, best of all, the voice of God 

Falls on his ravished ear, 
And sleep grows sweeter at his words 

Of hope, and peace, and cheer. 

When morning kissed the earth with lips of light. 
And won it from the cold embrace of night, 
Jacob, refreshed, arose, with heart serene. 
And eyes still radiant from the vision seen. 
And now his feet were eager to depart. 
But lingered at the prompting of his heart. 
The place was sacred ; he had known it not, 
Yet God was here, and graciously had wrought 
Such wonders, and to him such visions given. 
It seemed none other than the gate of heaven. 
The wilderness had blossomed ; and its name 
Henceforth was Bethel — chosen word to frame 
Its sacred memories. 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 53 

Then, that other days 
Might read the glad memorial of his praise, 
He reared the stone on which his head had lain, 
And journeyed onward in his quest again. 

So we, whose eyes have seen, whose ears have heard 

How here the desert blossomed, hail that word, 

And in this newer Bethel joyful raise 

A simple, heartfelt monument of praise 

To Him whom Jacob saw, and whom we know. 

By all the wonders of his love below. 

A hundred years ! Their light and shade 

A wondrous web have wrought : 
The eyes that watched, through smiles and tears. 
The shuttle's flight in by-gone years. 

Perchance some glimpses caught. 
But tarried not, nor saw the plan 
That through the widening texture ran. 

A hundred years ! The mellow ray 

Of history o'er us streams. 
Pierces the darkness, and displays 
The garnered light of vanished days ; 

As one, who, lost in dreams, 
Sees gleams of glory through the skies. 
And wonders whence they take their rise. 

A hundred years ! Their stately steps 

Fell on no mortal ear ; 
Yet, gathering in this honored place. 
The tell-tale footprints we can trace. 

That marked their progress here ; 
And here a monument we raise. 
In memory of departed days. 



54 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

Our verses with our thoughts will chime, 

And wander to that distant time 

Which fills our fancy, flees our sight, 

Half-hidden in the hazy light 

That tells of day, but hints of night. 

In Sudbury Canada we stand ; 

Above us tower the stately trees, 

Which, stirred by every passing breeze. 

Make murmurous music thro' the land. 

Far from the thoroughfares of trade. 

Remote from all the noise of men, 

A spot of calm and sweet repose. 

Save where the gurgling streamlet flows 

Along some mossy-haunted glen 

That flickers with soft light and shade ; 

Or where the Androscoggin pours 

Its tide, impatient for the sea, 

Or, with a sound like minstrelsy, 

Loiters along its shaded shores. 

The forest, whose vast realms of shade 

Hide homes that to the birds belong. 

Spreads a green canopy o'erhead. 

All interlaced with threads of song ; 

Beneath the tiny wild-flower shows 

Its petals, moist with lingering dew. 

That trembling stays, and swiftly goes 

Whene'er the sunlight trickles through. 

And through the silence and the shade 

That hover o'er this sylvan scene, 

Among the giant trunks that show 

Long vistas of repose between. 

The timid hare fears not to take 

Its halting leaps, with awkward grace. 

Nor rifle shot presumes to wake 

The sleeping echoes of the place ; 

Only the red man's stealthy tread 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 55 

Falls noiseless on the yielding ground, 
Whose arrow to its mark hath sped 
Unerring, witli no tell-tale sound. 
Here Beauty dwells, and Silence sweet, 
In nature's undisturbed retreat. 

The scene hath changed ; the white man's eyes 

Have rested on this lovely spot ; 

And lo ! his feet have tarried not 

To follow and possess the prize. 

With patient toil his arm doth wield 

The glittering axe, and where it falls 

The ancient trees unwilling yield, 

And form his rude but sheltering walls. 

And day by day the sunliglit looks 

Upon a slowly changing scene. 

And, searching out the hidden nooks, 

Of which, in other days, it sought 

A moment's glimpse, and gained it not, 

It lingers lovingly and late. 

And comes again, — and while we wait 

To count its visits, lo, its sheen. 

Hath clothed the nooks with living green. 

The sturdy pioneers, whose toil 

Doth thus transform the virgin soil, 

Dwell not, meanwhile, secure from fear ; 

In every rustling leaf they hear 

The footstep of the stealthy foe ; 

In every storm that mutters low. 

In every gale that shrieks, and fills 

With nameless dread the gathering gloom, 

Thfey hear his war-cry, and their doom 

Reechoed from the circling hills. 

A sense of danger broods around, 

And clothes with dread each slightest sound ; 

Prompting the hearts that feel the stress 



56 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

Of danger, linked with loneliness, 

To seek tlie comfort and the aid 

That lie within a neighbor's hand ; 

And, straightway, through the forest shade, 

The conscious want a path hath planned. 

And notched the trees on either side, — 

A simple, but unerring guide 

To him who seeks, in peace or war, 

A neighbor's house that stands afar. 

Along the lines, thus faintly traced, 

The postman rides, with ringing horn, 

Or Doctor, whose impatient haste 

Tells plainly, ere the day be passed, 

That some one will be dead — or born. 

Thus lives, 'mid changing hope and fear, 

The stalwart, steadfast pioneer. 

Slowly he conquers ; slowly yields 

The sullen Avood to smiling fields ; 

But, dauntless still, he bides the fates, 

And patient works, — and working waits. 

Again the scene hath changed ; and fair 

The meadows stretch ; with peace the air 

Is laden ; and the kind earth yields 

The bounty of her fruitful fields. 

Gone is the wilderness ! and where 

It stood, behold the homes of men. 

And bustle where repose hath been. 

But why this later change rehearse 

In cold and inexpressive verse ? 

Behold the beauties that before you rise, 

Bethel herself salutes your wondering eyes. • 

O ye, whose wandering feet retrace to-day 
The path that led you from these scenes away. 
Within whose breasts, wherever you may roam. 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 57 

The faith still lives, that points to childhood's home, 
We bid you hail ! The old-time charm still dwells 
Upon these meadows, in these shady dells ; 
The sunlight gilds, with all its ancient grace, 
The winsome beauties of your native place ; 
Still Bethel sits, a queen, in modest pride, 
And calls her willing subjects to her side. 

We bow, most gracious sovereign, at thy feet ; 
Our loving lips thy garment's hem would greet, — 
Our age renew the love that childhood gave. 
Our loyal hearts thy benediction crave. 
Our eyes thy crown of beauty view once more, 
That thrilled our senses in the days of yore : 
And ere the setting sun bids us away, 
Our heartfelt wishes at thy feet we'd lay. 

Long be thy reign among thy native hills ! 

The peace unbroken which thy valleys fills ; 

The river, rushing onward to the sea, 

Bring verdure on its dancing waves to thee ; 

The stately mountains, like grim sentries, stand 

To guard thy sunny fields on every hand ; 

Within the bosom of each wandering son 

The pride be steadfast which thy charms have won. 

Dwell thou in peace, secure of all our love. 

And crowned with countless blessino-s from above. 



After the Poem a blessing was invoked by the Kev. William Warren, 
D. D., and the great crowd repaired to the tables assigned to the different 
districts. Such a sight as was presented here was never before witnessed 
in Bethel. Every kind of food, of ancient and modern times, made the 
tables fairly groan with their burden. Everybody was invited to come 
and bring their friends with them. They ate and were filled, and the 



58 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

question was asked, "Is there any one that hasn't heen to dinner?'' 
until none said " Nay." One man who is fond of quoting scripture, said 
that the whole number of men, women and children were five thousand, 
and of the fragments were gathered seven baskets full. 

The company then returned to their seats, and the Secretary, E. A 
Frye, Esq., read the following letters from gentlemen who could not be 
present : 

Augusta, Me., Aug. 18, 1874. 
Dr. K T. Tkue, Chairman of Committe : 

JHy Dear Sir, — I regret that a prior engagement to be present at the State 
Educational Convention at Eockland on the 20th Inst., will prevent my 
acceptance of your kind invitation to participate in the exercises of your 
Centennial Celebration on the same day. I have no doubt that the exercises 
of the day will be such as to increase the love and veneration which every 
native of Bethel can but feel for a town which has so much to inspire regard, 
and at the same time to increase the reputation which your grand natural 
scenery and health-inspiring air have so justly given you elsewhere. Accept 
my thanks for your courtesy, and believe me as ever the warm admirer and 
well-wisher of the goodly town which you have the honor to represent. 

NELSON DINGLEY, Jk. 

Salem, Oregon, Aug. 7, 1874. 
K. A. Frye, Esq., Secretary of Centennial Committee: 

Dear Sir, — In acknowledging the receipt of your invitation, extended to me 
on behalf of your fellow-townsmen, to be present at the approaching celebra- 
tion of the centennial anniversary of the settlement of the town of Bethel, on 
the 2(5tli instant, it is with more than ordinary regi-et that I am impelled by 
circumstances to forego the pleasure of compliance. 

Wherever I have wandered in life, there has gone with me, next to the love 
and remembrance of parents, the love and remembi-ance of the hills and 
vales, the free air, the sparkling waters, the rugged and ever striking land- 
scape, the summers and the winters of my birthplace. 

The bold uplands of Oxford County, and the neighboring White Mountains 
of New Hampshire, have impressed their images upon my mind, and stand as 
emblematic monuments of a people, hardy, intelligent, and honorable. 

The first settlers of Bethel were remarkable for physical, mental, and moral 
sti-ength; and the hazards and hardships which they endured were well 
calculated to test these quahties. 

Their success in subduing the wilderness and their savage foes, and in 
rearing school-houses, churches, and the higher institutions of learning, is the 
best evidence of the character and culture of our worthy ancestors. 

May your celebration be alive with the spirit of the pioneers of Bethel and 

with the genius of a hundred years ago. 

Most faithfully yom-s, 

LAFAYETTE GROVER. 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 59 

Brooklyk, N. Y., August 21, 1874. 
E. A. Feye, Esq. : 

Mij Dear Sir,— Your note of the 29th ult. informing me of the intended 
celebration by the citizens of Bethel of the one hundredth anniversary of the 
settlement of that town, was duly received, and, but for sickness, would have 
been earlier acknowledged. 

I thank you very much for your kindly invitation to be present and take a 
part in the ceremonies on that occasion ; an invitation I should most gladly 
accept but for ill health, which at present unfits me for any exertion what- 
ever, either physical or mental, and confines me to the house nearly all the 
time. 

As my years roll on to near " three-score and ten," each successive one 
brings more vividly to recollection my native town and its inhabitants, as 
they were in the days of my youth. In that homestead, beside its brook, and 
in its new cleared fields, I gamboled many a day with brothers who have long 
since passed away; there, our father's quiet but impressive word, was law, 
both indoors and out. Within its walls the echoes of our sainted mothex-'s 
voice still linger, and her loving presence yet casts its strengthening shadow, 
within sight of that old house ; all which was mortal of each of these dear 
parents has found its last earthly resting place, and memories such as these 
may well make Bethel the dearest spot on earth to me. 

I grieve that I cannot personally join with you in the reminiscences and 
festivities that will mark your Centennial Celebration, but I shall be with 
you in spirit, and it is pleasant for me to know that others bearing tlie old, 
familiar name, and many of my kindred who still dwell among you, will rep- 
resent (more fitly perhaps than I), the family, on that day. 

In looking back over the history of the years that have resulted in such 
wholesome and steady growth to you as a community, I doubt not but you wU 
realize that to the moral and truthful training of your people, is chiefly owing 
your prosperity. A lesson (it seems to me) that might at this time fitly be 
impressed on the minds of those who are to succeed you on life's battle-field. 

But I must not weary you. In conclusion, I pray that God may bless you; 
all, especially in your "assembling of yourselves together" on the day you 
will meet to celebrate, and that He will continue His mercy and loving kind- 
ness to your posterity for all time to come. 

Yours, in the bonds of common sympathy, 

LUTHER C. CARTER 



Earlville, La Salle Co., Ills., Aug. 23, 1874. 
E. A. Frye, Esq. : 

Dear Sir,— I find it impossible to be with you on the 26th instant, to take a 
part in tlie celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement 
of my native town ; and on account of the pressure of business and profes- 
sional engagements, which just at this time seem to be under the control of 



60 BETHEL CENTENlSriAL. 

my evil genius, I am unable to prepare anything of value to be read on that 
interesting occasion. 

I assure you that no one can be half so regretful and disappointed at this 
privation as I am. It would indeed have been a great happiness to me to meet 
and take by the hand my relatives, old school-mates, and friends, and my 
honored and now venerable teacher, N. T. True, who is to be your orator on that 
occasion. I assure you that it is with the utmost self-denial that I am able to 
keep myself at home on duty under such circumstances. But if I could be 
present with you, or if I should attempt to write an appropriate letter, what 
should I say ? Standing between the two centuries contemplating on the one 
hand the achievements of the past along the dim prospective of a hundred 
years, and on the other, the possibilities of the future enfolded in the un- 
known and undeveloped resources of the centiu'y to come. "Who shall utter 
words fitly to be spoken? Whose conceptions can properly embrace the 
occasion? Whose vision is clear enough, whose comprehension is broad 
enough, and whose judgment is just enough, to understand and to weigh 
the history of the last century, and to epitomize it on such an occasion ? 
More difficult still, on whom rests the spirit of prophesy to forecast the future ? 
Who can fairly state or fully learn the great lessons which are taught by the 
ages which are gone? Who can understand the significance of the "eternal 
now," or penetrate the veil which hides the future? 

The most we can do on this occasion is to recognize it, to greet each other 
and in the spirit of faith and trust in the Infinite Father of us all, "Await 
the gi'eat teacher Death, and God above." 

Thanking you for your invitation, I am, 

Very truly, etc., 

A. J. GEOVER. 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 61 



REGULAR TOASTS. 



Hon. Enoch Foster, toast master, read the following toasts : 

The State of Maine, ever true to her motto : — May her sons and her daughters 
everywhere do honor to her principles by their industry, intelligence and 
virtue. 

Responded to by Hon. Sidney Perham, ex-governor of Maine. 

Mr, President : — I rise to respond to the sentiment just offered 
under more than ordinary embarrassment. It is always embar- 
rassing to stand before an audience in a place that has been 
assigned to another, but for an ex-governor — one who has been 
dropped from the calendar of living government — to attempt to fill 
the place of the real live one, is especially so. To this audience it 
will be like bringing out and attempting to adjust to one's person 
an old garment that has been laid aside for years. It is old style — 
out of flishion — ill fitting, and can never be worn as satisfactorily 
as one made especially for the present time. It affords me great 
pleasure to meet so many of the sons and daughters of Bethel on 
this deeply interesting and very pleasant occasion. I congratulate 
you in the prosperity that has marked all the interests of the good 
town of Bethel since the first settlement within her borders. 
Many pleasant memories of Bethel rise before me whenever I 
visit your beautiful village. 

Thirty-six years ago my parents sent me to the academy 
here, giving me twenty dollars to pay the cost of board, tuition, 
and incidental expenses for one term. This sum I found sufficient, 
though but little could be appropriated for incidentals. It costs 



62 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

more now, as those who have children to educate have occasion to 
know. I boarded in the family of Capt. Grout, who hved just 
this side of the present location of the depot. I have some vivid 
recollections of mince pies and doughnuts, of the apple-tree in the 
little orchard near the house wliich 1 visited every night and 
morning, and of the ride I took one day on an island in your river 
on the back of a wild colt, and what came of it. I do not recollect 
so distinctly as to the progress made in my studies, though it was 
such that a school agent in one of the adjoining towns offered me 
nine dollars a month to teach a winter school in an unfinished 
room of an old farm-house. But I am talking at random. I had 
almost forgotten that I was called to the stand to respond for the 
State of Maine. In common with this whole audience, I regret 
that our excellent Chief Magistrate has been prevented by other 
duties from being present and speaking for the State, over whose 
interests he so acceptably presides. 

What can I say of the State of Maine that is not known to every 
person in this large assemblage ? I might point you to our rivers, that 
take their rise in our northern forests, and fed by immense lakes, 
whose waters can be used in time of need, and, until mid-summer, 
by melting snow, furnish, in their descent to the ocean, facilities for 
manufacturing operations unequalled in the country ; to our safe and 
capacious harbors, sufficient to accommodate all the commerce and 
the navies of the world ; to our extensive shipping interests ; to 
our forests of wood and timber ; to our fisheries ; to our inexhaust- 
ible quarries of granite, slate, and lime, yielding already a large 
income, which is rapidly increasing ; to our ice which has become 
an important and profitable article of export ; and last, though not 
least, to our men and women, who honor not only the State of 
their birth, but every other State in the Union. To all these and 
many other reasons for honest pride in the State we love most of 
all, I might call your attention at length. But little of it would 
be new to you, and the time will be better occupied by those who 
will follow me. 

We stand to-day amidst the scenes that mark the progress of a 
century from the settlement of your town. What changes have 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL, 63 

been wrought. What joys and sorrows have been experienced, 
what hopes and fears have been reahzed, what progress has been 
made in these hundred years, I will not attempt to recount. The 
occasion is opportune for a review of the past, and a glance at 
the possibilities of the future. But I must not longer occupy your 
time. The road over which the next hundred years will take us, 
is wisely covered with mist and shadows that intercept our vision. 
But, gathering wisdom from the experience of the past, let us 
apply it to the duties of the present, and go forward in the hope 
that whatever vicissitudes await us, our pathway will lead us up- 
ward and nearer to the realization of our noblest aspirations. 

Our Elder Sister, Fryeburg: — She cherished us in our infancy, and we honor 
her in her maturity. 

Responded to by D. R. Hastings, Esq., of Fryeburg. 

The Clergy of Bethel : — Like a good Mason they strive to lay a solid founda- 
tion on which to erect a superstructure that cannot be easily shaken. 

Responded to by Rev. J. K. Mason of Thomaston. 

Mr. President, Ladies and gentlemen of Bethel, and of other 
towns and cities whom this occasion has brought hither : — To 
decline speaking to such a sentiment as the one just uttered, I 
should be untrue to my own instincts. To be present " on my 
native heath again," environed by these hills, familiar to my boy- 
hood's look and tread as to any boyhood's since ; overarched by 
the same sky that in my childhood I looked upon and wondered at 
so often. Thrilled by the memories which these faces and our 
historian of to-day have recalled, and remain silent would involve 
a wrong to my instinctive promptings to be ashamed of forever. 
The Clergy of Bethel have done good foundation work. Its 
Masonry will outlive time itself. The superstructure erecting 
in institutions, industries, enterprises of different kinds, in the 
intelligence, taste and character everywhere evinced, is a monu- 
ment to be proud of. Incomplete, indeed, to-day, but rising 



64 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

higher, and rising ever ; to present more beautiful proportions un- 
til the glin tings of yonder sun on these forest clad mountain slopes 
shall cease ; the river fail of its winding way ; the sky become 
starless ; and all this charm of nature sketched by artist, and 
admired by lovers of the beautiful, from city and town near and 
remote, yield to another j^a^ of creative power. The monument 
complete will then remain in all its chief essentials. Truth, prin- 
ciples, compacted, dovetailed by these " workmen needing not to 
be ashamed," will stand. The " lively stones " built thereon will 
be as enduring as eternity. To have had a succession of such 
ministers of religion as have lived and wrought here from the 
earliest settlement of the town, has been a blessing difficult to 
overestimate. Many of them liberally educated, and so prepared 
and earnest to care for the mental as well as the moral and spiritual 
welfare of the people. Our historian has just enumerated and 
characterized them, giving you an index to the kind, amount, and 
success of the work they did. I may not, therefore, particularize 
to any extent, lest I seem to be invidious. Still, I love in fancy 
to run up the years of the century, and look in at the old steep- 
roofed mansion of " Priest Gould,^^ (as " sinners " used to name 
the first settled minister), and see the youth, inspired by his love 
of letters, grappling with sturdy will, principles underlying all 
thorough education and mental discipline. That mansion known 
to me only as the home of " Dr. Grover," once a pupil in it; long 
time after, the owner of it, had for me a charm, and commanded 
my boyhood's reverence as no other ever did. Not for the minis- 
ter's sake who lived there long before I was born, but for the 
doctor's sake, who not only dealt out to me more physic than all 
other doctors, but did more to excite in me the desire for an edu- 
cation, and to help me gratuitously in my incipient beginnings 
with Greek and Latin roots, than any other. I see him now, 
massive head, hair erect, face radiant with pleasure at my success, 
or frame shaking all through at my blunders in translation, some- 
how, meanwhile awakening an enthusiasm in me, and my then 
classmate (Gov. Grover of Oregon), which, I trust, has experi- 
enced no abatement to this day. The " Parson's " influence on 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 65 

him and others Hved, and was perpetuated. Others of the clergy 
who succeeded were not slow to recognize the same need, and 
meet it. Hence it has been that Bethel has sent out more edu- 
cated men and women, — many of them distinguished Christians, 
several ministers of different denominations, — than any other town 
in the county, and more than any other town in the State of equal 
population. 

The times have changed ; the work of the clergy in its essentials 
is the same as always, yet more multiform and varied in its needful 
adaptations ; the men engaged in it to-day not a whit behind those 
of former years ; as indispensable to the uprearing superstructure 
as the earlier to the laying of good foundations. That you appre- 
ciate the sentiment, I have no doubt. That the Bible you have 
been taught to cherish in your homes and in your hearts ; whose 
principles your children have been nursing with their mothers' 
milk ; whose influence underlies all good government ; secures the 
purity and safety of society ; sanctifies every home that is worthy 
the name of home ; and whose light makes the pathway of life 
plain, and reveals glimpses of the great beyond that cheer amid 
many a trial and conflict, heightening, too, many a joy by the way ; 
that this old Bible, dear, precious, God-given, is and is to be talis- 
manic, not only in its power to protect from evil, but to bless with 
positive good, you have learned to believe with all your heart. 

The century from which we step into the coming, to-day, and 
desire to leave here in these services and festivities, our latest 
track, has been one of great changes in church and state ; in letters 
and science; in practicalizing theories and utilizing forces. The 
march has been onward, not backward and downward, as some 
misanthropes have thought and insisted, and so preached that 
nothing but a miracle could turn the current ; nothing but the 
Omnipotent hand, by sheer, sovereign act, could arrest and turn, 
back the destructive drift of human kind. The march has been 
onward and upward. The years have been rolling up new or in- 
creased light, and the day is brightening. The Sun, some of 
whose rays the prophets saw, and which in his rising the shepherds 
of Bethlehem rejoiced at the sight of, has been ascending toward 
5 



66 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

the zenith, flooding the earth more and more, sending his blessings 
into dark places, and despairing hearts ; assuring the already 
believing, and convincing the skeptical, that the promise is on the 
eve of fulfillment when " the earth shall be filled with his glory 
as the waters fill the sea." That croaking that sees nothing good 
but in the past, that sees nothing but premonitions of a coming 
destruction in these upheavals in society ; these clamorings of 
philosophy, and developments of science ; these utilizations of all 
natural forces seemingly shaped toward material ends, may do for 
a raven maw, or swell the melody of an owlet song ; but they shall 
not disturb us here to-day. Ours is a faith that looks before, and 
reaches its hand to one that leads and lifts to clearer visions and 
purer joys. Old truths remain, affecting and underlying every 
relation and every hope ; but these shall brighten, and others be 
seen clustering about them, adding brilliancy, beauty, and glory, 
until we shall see that God's plan, universal, is one grand sym- 
metric whole, and that the accomplishment of it is as benevolent 
and wise as it is certain. 

When invited, a few weeks ago, by your committee to prepare 
the historic address for this occasion, I considered myself honored as 
I have seldom been, since, a young man, I went out from you to 
the battle of life. The honor of the invitation I appreciated, but 
the honor of standing here as your historian I was obliged to 
decline, because it rightfully belonged to another. No man could 
do it as gracefully and well as he. No other man, with my con- 
sent, should deprive him of the honor. No other could have 
earned and worn so rightfully the laurels with which you crown 
him to-day. !ZVMe-born, a True-man f skilled in historic lore as 
well as scientific research, an educating chief, whom Bethel will 
never forget, nor her sons and daughters, near or afar, cease to 
remember with love and respect. 

Friends, this is the last time. The old century has faded, and 
with it many dear to you and me have faded and fallen, and they 
sleep among the silent. Peace be to their ashes ! The future is 
hastening up bidding us too — " make haste," — gird well for the con- 
flict ! there is battle ahead ! Earnest and achieving work for the 



BETHEL CENTENXLAL. 67 

world we live in ! " The night cometh ! " Some of you are already 
at the sunset hour ! One more effort ; one more look of faith ; 
one more inspiration of hope, and the reward shall come ! Some 
of us will have a little longer, and some have just begun, — are in 
life's morning. 

To such let me say, regard you the sentiment uttered here just 
now by our worthy ex-governor, " religion, education, and labor 
are at the ibundation of all good government, and of all local and 
individual prosperity." The sentiment is true. The world has 
come to believe it. Twenty nations of Europe, by their repre- 
sentatives, and as many States of our own have incorporated it as a 
principle into their platform of penal reform. In that Congress of 
Nations, in the city of London in 1872, to which your honorable gov- 
ernor sent me a commissioner, the sentiment was discussed and urg- 
ed in its broadest scope and minutest bearings, and incorporated in 
the special platform by unanimous vote. So the nations are beginning 
to " see eye to eye." The forces are concentrating. Old differ- 
ences are vanishing. Opinions and purposes in regard to vital 
achievements and reforms are harmonizing. And it is true, thank 
God, it is true, that instruments like this I now lift in your sight, a 
sword that did service in the war of the revolution, resulting in 
our national independence, will be " beat into plowshares and 
spears into pruning hooks." May you and I be cooperators in the 
work that shall result in such a consummation ! Now, let me say, 
Farewell ! citizens, friends, all. Let your future, as your past, 
show that you are not unmindful of the foundations, or those work- 
ing at them, or the superstructure that is erecting. A good 
masonry is needed all the way up, until the top stone with shouting 
is secure. 

Clergymen of Bethel, you know your work. Well some of you 
have wrought at it these many years. Others are fresh in it. 
Your memorial will be looked upon by other eyes than those which 
look on 7/ou to-day. It shall be honorable. 

Meet, we all shall, but not here. There let it be, in the " Bethel " 
above. Nay, rather, in the " Blessed Home." 



68 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

The Medical Profession : — They show by their practice rather than by words, 
what they do. 

Responded to by Dr. N. T. True. 

Wiley, as some men claim to be, they cannot easily escape justice, so long 
as the legal profession maintains integrity. 

Responded to by Hon. James S. Wiley of Dover, Me. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: — A little more than 
twenty-four hours ago, I was more than one hundred miles away 
at the mouth of Penobscot Bay, on the verge of the Atlantic. I 
debated with myself for a moment whether I would return home, 
a comparatively short distance, or come to Bethel. I did not long 
hesitate. I wished to view once more your unrivaled scenery, to 
gaze once more upon your beautiful and grand panorama of valley, 
river, hill, and mountain. I longed to greet again with cordial 
grasp the few remaining friends of my youth, and to renew my 
acquaintance with those whom I had known in later years. I con- 
cluded to come, with not the remotest idea, however, of taking 
any part in your celebration. But your historian, an energetic 
geologist, famous for discovering things, found me out after 1 had 
retired to my room for rest and repose. He said I must take a 
part. I declined, (urging fatigue and want of time for prepara- 
tion). He insisted, claiming that I was a son of Bethel ; and as 
a dutiful son, I obeyed. I am glad I came. I have been highly 
gratified. I have had the pleasure of receiving a hearty welcome 
from old and dear friends, and of feasting my eyes upon the beauties 
of nature surrounding my old home ! Your President has an- 
nounced me as " ahnost a son of Bethel." I do feel. Sir, that I 
may claim to be almost a son of Bethel. You have a history of 
one hundred years ; concerning forty-eight years of that history 
I know something myself. I knew the Chapmans, the Twitchells, 
the Beans, the Hastings, the Kimballs, the Masons, and most of 
the old worthies, some of whom by their presence honor our meet- 
ing to-day. And, can I ever forget your adopted son, our old 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 69 

brother, William Frye. I knew him well, and cherish the fondest 
recollections of his gentleness and kindness to me. To him I was 
accnstomed to recite many a lesson in my school-boy days. A 
gentleman, a ripe scholar, a worthy member of the legal profession, 
whom we delight to honor. 

But, Mr. President, I am expected to say something more par- 
ticular about the legal profession. This subject presents a very 
broad field of discussion, and time will permit me to glance at only 
a few points. 

Laio^ in its true sense, is the very foundation of all civilized 
society. All nations which have made the least advance beyond 
the lowest barbarism, have found it necessary to restrain and 
govern themselves by rules and regulations for their own good. 
In the earlier stages of society, Avhen the governing power is lodged 
in the hands of a few, these regulations ma}"" be few and simple ; 
but as nations and communities become more numerous, and their 
affairs more complicated, laws must become more numerous and 
complex. Then there must be a class of men, learned men, who 
are able to make, expound, and administer, the law. Hence the 
profession. 

Moses was a great law-giver and lawyer to the tribes of Israel. 
All great lawyers, who really understand their profession, are 
statesmen ; he was such, learned and wise. 

Solon and Lycurgus were great statesmen, law-givers, and law 
yers, under whose wise administration the Greek nation made 
unprecedented advances in useful knowledge. I trust, sir, it will 
not be considered sacrilege to say that our Saviour himself was 
the greatest, wisest, and best law-giver the world ever saw. He 
gave us the Golden Rule, the very essence of all true law and 
justice. I fear we do not properly estimate the importance of the 
legal profession in founding, building up, and sustaining all great 
and enlightened nations. Consider how much England owes to 
her system of jurisprudence. What would she have been without 
her great statesmen, judges, and lawyers ? I have time only to 
name Lord Mansfield, the great lawyer, and upright judge, and 



70 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 



champion of English hberty, who decided that slaves cannot live 
in England. " They touch our country and their shackles fall !" 

Consider, for a moment, our own glorious United States. The 
fathers of the Republic, the framers of our incomparable Con- 
stitution were good men, wise statesmen, and most of them, 
practical, sound, learned lawyers. And if we will but consider the 
matter for a moment, I think we may conclude that we are more 
indebted to the legal profession than to any other cause alone for 
the exalted rank which we hold in the scale of nations. As great 
judges and expounders of the fundamental law of the land, we are 
proud of a Marshall, Taney, and Chase ; as great lawyers, we may 
boast of a Lee, Livingston, Wirt, Clay, Webster, and Choate. In 
short, our Constitution and the whole framework of our government 
and jurisprudence — all the work of the legal profession — are such 
as justly to challenge the admiration of the civilized world. A 
wonder indeed. But I might repeat the same in regard to almost 
every State in the Union. I cannot omit our own State of Maine. 
We can boast of judges, lawyers, and a judiciary system which 
will compare favorably with those of any sister State. 

But I am reminded my time is limited. 

The other learned professions are well represented here to-day, 
and I would make no invidious comparisons. There is no antagon- 
ism among us ; there should be none. The physician labors to 
eradicate or regulate the evils and disorders of the physical sys- 
tem ; the clergyman strives to inculcate the true principles of 
morality among the people ; while the lawyer, the true lawyer, 
strives to eradicate or correct those evils which infest the body 
politic. The good clergyman teaches the true principles of Chris- 
tianity, the true foundation of all laws ; the lawyer expounds and 
enforces them. So we see that neither is sufficient of himself 
alone, but each must aid and assist the other. Then let us work 
together, each in his own appropriate sphere, striving to fit and 
prepare the world for the coming in of that happy time — 

" When Peace o'er earth her olive wand shall sway, 

And man forget his brother man to slay ; 
Plenty and peace shall spread from pole to pole, 

And earth's grand family possess one soul." 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. * 71 

Our Mother State, Massachusetts : — The blood of her citizens still coui-ses in 
the veins of our sons and daughters. 

Responded to by Rev. Mr. Tilden of Boston. 

Mr. President : — I believe this is the first time in my hfe I 
was ever called to speak for a State, save, when a young man, I 
popped the question for the state of matrimony. But as I had such 
good luck then I shall not hesitate to try again, especially as I 
know full well that Massachusetts, the dear old mother of States, 
does most cordially reciprocate the kindly sentiment you have just 
expressed. Like all doting mothers she is very fond and proud of 
her children when they do well. Besides, as we all know, she has 
special reasons for a tender regard for the sons and daughters of 
Maine, since they are not only bone of her bone, and flesh of her 
flesh, but soil of her soil. 

I remember a conundrum I used to hear in my boyhood, " Why 
is Massachusetts like a sheared horse ?" " Because she has lost her 
Maine." 

The good mother, if I remember right, was a little troubled 
about that shearing process, but she soon got over it, and has long 
since seen that it was best every way that her " down East " 
children should have their portion of the farm set off" to them and 
set up for themselves. You certainly have shown your capacity 
for managing successfully your part of the old homestead, and of 
becoming a strong and worthy member of the great family of 
States, now happily reunited, we trust forever, in the bonds of 
Liberty, Equality, Justice, and so, of Peace. 

Mr. President, this is a memorable day for Bethel, and I am 
right glad to be with you, even as a visitor, and share in the 
pleasures of your centennial celebration. A more delightful day 
you could hardly have had -, a more charming spot you could 
scarcely have selected. I was greatly interested in your proces- 
sion, exhibiting the handicraft of a former day, and the old-time 
way of doing things. I was pleased with the pioneer woodsmen 
and hunters ; though, really, I could hardly have believed that you 
had a dog in Bethel a hundred years old, if I had not seen with 



72 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

ray own eyes the veritable animal led by one of the hunters. I 
was gratified to see so fine a representation of glorious old men 
and women, showing the hardy stock from which you sprung, and 
the healthiness of your climate, together with the youth and beauty 
of Bethel so finely representing the " Old Thirteen " and " the 
coming woman." I have been glad to listen to the interesting 
story of the last hundred years told by your historian, and put into 
sweet and musical rythm by your poet. Glad to hear the letters 
of your absent sons, full of filial affection, and the spoken words of 
those present with you. Glad thus to learn that while your forests 
yield sound timber, and your valleys rich grain, your homes yield 
historians, poets, preachers, physicians, lawyers, and above all, 
good, honest, industrious men and women ; the strong arm of 
future prosperity as of past achievement. 

Mr. President, I was gratified to hear the cordial welcome ex- 
tended to visitors to-day. There seems to be a special propriety in 
this. For dear as Bethel is to her own sons and daughters, she 
has also a growing interest to visitors from abroad. There is 
something in your charming valleys and background of " everlast- 
ing hills " that is common property. It can never be bought or 
sold. Beauty and grandeur are above all price. Every appre- 
ciative mind claims them as its own. Bethel is rich in this kind 
of wealth, and this will always make your pleasant town a place of 
happy and restful resort for all lovers of the beautiful. 

And now, in place of a speech, permit me to offer a responsive 
sentiment : 

Bethel : The child of Massachusetts ! Though in the wayward- 
ness of her youth she did run away with the " Maine " branch of 
the family, taking with her a part of the old homestead ; still, she 
has done so well ever since that she has her mother's forgiveness 
and blessing. May her prosperity be as perennial as the beauty of 
her scenery ; and in all coming celebrations may she be able, as 
to-day, to select from her own children a " True " man for her 
orator, a good " Chap " for her poet, and a rosy " Garland " for 
her chaplain. 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 73 

The Merchants of Bethel. 

Responded to by Abner Davis, Esq., of Bethel. 

Our Native Born Citizens from other States :— We honor tliem because they 
have honored their native home. 

Responded to by Jacob Brown, Esq., of Illinois. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — My position here 
to-day is a strange and phenomenal one. Not to the Bethel manor 
born, nor yet an invited Bethel-born guest even ; T am here by 
the pressure of Providence, or, peradventure, as the worldling 
would term it, by sheer accident. Born fifty years ago and more, 
in the goodly town of Albany ; an important adjunct to the town 
of Bethel in many respects. For the past week I have been 
treading my " native heath " again, and lingering around the half- 
forgotten scenes of my boyhood. A view of this dear old town 
awakens vivid recollections of other days. 

" There I was birched, there I was bled, 
There like a little Adam fed 
From learning's woeful feree." 

There my father lived, and there he loved, and there he labored, 
and there he died. And how he died, and how he labored, and 
how he loved, I can well imagine ; but how in thunder he lived so 
long and so well in this quaint old town, amid the barren valleys 
and naked mountains, to me is a sealed book — the mystery of all 
mysteries. 

The generation that knew me in boyhood has passed away. The 
present generation knows me not. Along the highways and by- 
ways of this rough old town I passed and repassed without 
recognition from my fellowmen. The mountains bent their heads 
in greeting. The hills knew me well. The ponds and the pond- 
lets caressed me. As I passed these old-time friends they turned 
up their sunny and familiar faces in hearty welcome and warm 
recognition. I was glad to meet and greet these gray old sentinels 



74 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

of time, and gently put my hand upon their furrowed cheeks and 
wrinkled faces, and feel that no change can obliterate our early 
love. Never until the crack of doom shall these stupendous monu- 
mental piles crumble and lose their terrible grandeur and shivering 
sublimity. I looked around and noted all things else had changed. 
It was a sort of satisfaction to know I too, had changed past 
recognition by the friends of my early years. I love the play-place 
of my early years. As the Esquimaux, who never feels the sum- 
mer sun, nor sees the flowers of spring-time, is inspired with 
patriotic love of country ; so I can stand upon the hills of Albany, 
fold my arms around me, and complacently exclaim with the 
Esquimaux, this, my dear, old, native town, is the finest country 
the sun ever shone upon. 

But what business has Albany, her living and her dead, in a 
centennial celebration of Bethel ? Modestly, I can only reply, 
because I am here. Not that I love Bethel less, but Albany more. 
But in my present sunny mood I will sin^ my song of 

PATTEE'S OLD MILL. 

Of all the pictures in memory's hall, 

No one doth me so thrill ; 
As pictures of boyhood days that were spent 

Down by Pattee's old mill. 

There radiant morn, in her milk-white robes, 

Tripp' d o'er meadow and hill. 
Scattering light, and never so bright, as 

Down by Pattee's old mill. 

And the brave old saw went up and went down, 

Through knot, splinter and frill ; 
And the weU-worn wheel turned round and around 

Down by Pattee's old mill. 

And the mist crept up from the old mill pond 

To pine trees on the hill ; 
The rainbow promise of youth gilded all 

Down by Pattee's old mill. 

And, oh ! how I panted and longed for fame — 

These longings trouble me still 
When I think of the boyhood days I spent 

Down by Pattee's old mill. 



75 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

So oft as of life I'm sick— am aweary, 
Memory haunts me still ; 

Of young romance I skim'd in my youth, 
Down by Pattee's old mill. 

The dear one I loved with a boyish love, 
Meets me in dreams at will, 

And hallows the scene that memory wakes 
Down by Pattee's old mill. 

Along the wide ways of sin I may fall ; 

O God, be it Thy will! 
If of Heaven I fail, to grant me rest 

Down by Pattee's old mill. 



Bethel ! Dear old town ! There is no town in the State which 
possesses so many and so fascinating attractions to the lover of 
nature in her beauty, grandeur, and sublimity. Favored above all 
other towns in the State of Maine in the profuse distribution of 
nature's largesses, she has truly husbanded her resources. Her 
soil is tough, and so are her people. Her soil has the true grit, and 
so has her people. The town was settled by a proud and heroic 
race of men. The tough soil and the rigorous climate have given 
well-knit muscle, strong arms, and sturdy courage, and fertile 
brains to her people. Bethel Hill, the center of the town, has 
been and will continue to be the center of learning and literature, 
the very Athens of Oxford County. Bethel Hill, picturesque and 
lovely beyond comparison, clings to the bold mountain sides in the 
background, in shadow and sunshine, like the frighted babe to its 
mother's breast. 

No outward-bound son of Bethel will ever forget to love and 
honor her. As long as the sun in his setting shall throw a flood of 
light and glory over the shivered peaks of New England mountain 
tops, lighting up the whole heavens as with molten gold ; as long 
as the mists shall cling around the hill-tops, and the rivers seek the 
sea, so long, in the future as in the past, true as the needle to the 
pole, whether upon the land or upon the sea, upon the farm, or in 
the mines, at the bar, in the pulpit, or in the workshop, rich or 
poor, high or low, the true son of Bethel will love and honor her, 



76 BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 

and keep green her bays forever. I will now recite my poem, and 
bid you all hail and farewell forever, entitled : 

BETHEL ACADEMr, 

By barren rocks and deeply tangled wildwood, 

Mid valley, lake and glen ; 
Here babyhood was cradled into childhood, 

And boys grew up to men. 

Anear the corner of this quaint old building. 

With the windows all arow ; 
That sturdy and that stately growing elm-tree 

Grew thirty years ago. 

The Androscoggin still is flowing sea-ward, 

As thirty years ago ; 
Oft down whose gliding waters just at night-fall 

I've paddled my canoe. 

Westward winds that little silvery brooklet, 

In tune to my poor rhyme ; 
Life's wreck-besprinkled waters still are surging, 

Against the shores of time. 

I look adown the lane from this old building, 

Down to the dusty street ; 
But gone are all the bright familiar faces 

Of those I used to meet. 

And stricken dumb is my poor heart with sadness. 
Bright boyhood's dreams are fled. 

Flowers that bloomed by every humble wayside, 
All are withered and dead. 

Poor, timid soul ! The dead may bury their dead. 

As soldier brave in fight ; 
Conquer the red-hot battles of life and learn 

To win and love the right. 



The Ladies of Bethel : — celebrated alike in the present as in the past for 
their untiring devotion to every noble entei'prise, their intelligence, their 
beauty and their virtue. 



Responded to by the Band. 



ii 



II 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL. 77 

After the toasts and speeches, the audience led by the Norway 
Band joined in singing the Centennial Hymn, composed for the 
occasion by Geo. B. Farnsworth, Esq., to the tune of Old Hundred : 

CENTENNIAL HYMN. 

As,— wlien to Jacob it was given 

To see, mid Eastern deserts lone, 
A ladder reaching up to Heaven 

Along vphose steps the angels shone, — 

He knew the Lord was, surely, there, 

And what had seemed but wilderness 
Now God's own dwelling did appear, 

And " Beth-el," thence, he named the place:* 

So, when our fathers, eastward led, 

Chanced to this lovely vale to roam, 
Seeing its emerald floor outspread 

And spanned by yonder crystal dome, 

Into whose depths the mountains soared 

Like heavenly ladders angel-trod, 
They said, "Here, surely, dwells the Lord!" 

And named their home the " House of God." 

And here, from youth to age, they strove 

Their goodly heritage to keep 
For Freedom, Knowledge, Virtue, Love — 

Now in the dust all, silent sleep ! 

May we, their children, aye defend 

The heritage they loved so well ; 
This heir-loom from the Past descend 

To children's children, nobler still; 

A place for homliest labors meet; 

Ever of manly worth the abode ; 
And aye a place of worship sweet, — 

A temple high,— a "House of God!" 

Dwell with us. Thou ! And when the stone 

Shall be, at eve, our resting-place, 
Heaven's ladder be to its let down, 

And may we see Thee, face to face ! 



«i. e., " House of God." See Gen. 28: 10—19. 



78 



BETHEL CENTENNIAL, 



The President now announced the audience adjourned for ONE 
HUNDRED YEARS. 



Many were the greetings of old and familiar faces. It seemed 
as though everybody saw more old friends and acquaintances than 
ever before in one day, and the crowd slowly dispersed to their 
homes, exclaiming to every body, " What a splendid time we have 
had." 

Thus has ended the first Centennial of Bethel. It was a volun- 
tary effort on the part of the citizens. There was no factitious 
exhibition which money might purchase, but the spontaneous offer- 
ings of the people. This feature characterized everything, and it 
passed off as planned by the committee of arrangements. It would 
have been hard to improve on what was done, for during the day 
everybody seemed to have their expectations more than realized, 
and a happier and better behaved crowd of five thousand people, 
never was seen anywhere in happy New England. 



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